What Happens Now? The New Curtis Family
by Goosey0527smt
Summary: Sequel to The New Curtis Family. How will the Curtis Family deal with the new turn of events that was the outcome of the visit from Mrs. Roberts. How will the family deal with the stress that this will cause?
1. Chapter 1

I DO NOT OWN ANY RIGHTS TO THE OUTSIDERS- ALL CHARACTERS BELONG TO S. WITH THE EXCEPTION OF SARA CURTIS.

Chapter 1

"Hello Mrs. Roberts? This is Darrel Curtis. I have given your suggestion a lot of thought and I am calling you this afternoon to give you my decision." Darry's hand was shaking as he was holding the receiver. He was so glad that Two-Bit swung by and offered to take Ponyboy to see Sodapop and Steve down at the DX. Usually Sundays were set aside for some family time, but Sodapop had already made plans with Steve to work on that damn car that Darry was still pissed about, and Ponyboy was being all moody so Darry really wasn't up to doing anything special today anyway. "Mrs. Roberts I don't know what else to do or to say that will help convince you that I have everything under control. I am working my tail off here and am just hoping that you and everyone else can see that. I am just asking that you give me a little more time. I can prove to you that this home is a safe and secure place for Sodapop, Ponyboy, and most of all, Sara." Darry was listening to Mrs. Roberts on the other end of the line trying to defend her decisions. Darry's eyes were glued to the window just trying to focus on something other than this annoying lady's voice on the phone trying to tell him he is unfit for guardianship of his younger sister. Darry was trying his hardest to keep himself calm, cool and collective, not wanting to give Mrs. Roberts anymore reason to pile another things against him. After about 30 seconds of listening to Mrs. Roberts, Darry finally found a way to enter back into the conversation. "I understand what you are trying to tell me Mrs. Roberts. I honestly do. But I need you to listen to me for a second. You see that little girl, that you keep referring to is my one and only sister, and as her big brother it is my job to protect her at all cost, and that is what I am doing. I never thought that I would ever say this, but that girl is my life now. She is my future now, and she is my everything. If you really want to destroy this family, than I am going to give you one hell of a fight, I promise you that!" Darry's voice was starting to rise. He was glad that no one else was in the house to hear him start to get angry. Darry must have gotten through to Mrs. Roberts because he couldn't believe what he was hearing on the other end of the phone. "Really? You'll give me two weeks? I have two weeks? This is great. Yes, I know that you still need to do that. I understand that anything can change within that time period. Mrs. Roberts you have no idea how happy this makes me! Thank-you so much! Yes, I do. Thank you, thank you!" Darry couldn't help to feel the smile spreading across his face. "I will. They are not home right now, but when they do I will tell them. You are more than welcome to stop by anytime. If that is what it will take, than you can show up at any hour. Thank you again, Mrs. Roberts. I will, have a good evening yourself." Darry couldn't believe what just happened as he hung up the receiver. He was feeling all giddy like a school girl. He didn't know what to do with himself, but one thing was for sure was that he just told Mrs. Roberts that she could come and check up on them at any time of the day any day of the week, so as he glanced around the house he knew that things would have to change a little in order to keep this place in tip top shape, but then again he needed to keep his eyes on the door as well. Darry knew the first place to start was trying to clean up the living room and kitchen for starters, that way he could also still keep his eyes on the door.

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"Damn it, Sodapop, I have had to repair everything you have touched on this engine today. What has gotten into you? This is supposed to be exciting! It's your first car for Christ Sakes. And we got a hell of a good deal on all these parts. I still can't believe old man Stan down at the junk yard let us strip all these parts. This is a good start." Steve was taking the wrench out of Soda's hand to readjust a part that Soda had just put in the wrong way.

"I guess I am just distracted today." Soda tried to move onto another part of the engine to work on.

"I thought you and Sandy made up the other night?" Steve was trying to figure out what the problem might be.

"We did. Things seem to be pretty good between us now." Soda reached down to pull out a part that he had just moved onto.

"If it isn't Sandy, is it Darry? Because I know that he was pretty pissed that you bought this card behind his back, but I thought he was over it now?" Steve finally got Sodapop's mistake fixed and was now leaning against the fender of the car.

"Oh, let me just assure you, Stevie, he is still plenty pissed off about the car. I don't think he will be getting over this anytime soon." Soda now had decided to take a break too.

"Then, I give up, man. What is going on? If it isn't Sandy or Darry, what is it?" Steve walked over and picked up his Pepsi that was on the workbench and took a gulp. It was a warmish spring day out and the heat was starting to get to the boys in the garage. He walked Soda's Pepsi back over to him and handed it to him to take a drink. Soda willingly accepted it feeling thirty too.

"It's nothing. I just need to deal with it and try to accept it." Soda was starting to walk back to the workbench to set his Pepsi back down when he heard her name.

"It's Sara isn't it?" Steve had said once Sodapop's back was to him. Soda had just set his Pepsi down when he turned and gave Steve a nod. "Soda, you can't let this eat you up. What can you do about it? This is Darry's deal. If Darry told you that everything was going to work out than you need to trust him that it will. You can't let this get you down; it isn't like you, buddy." Soda knew in his brain that Steve was right, but it was his heart that was telling him otherwise.

"You know Steve, right after our parents died, I had a hard time adjusting to the new routine and being needed so much by her and Ponyboy, but now that it just…" Sodapop's words were cut off by the arrival of Ponyboy and Two-Bit.

"Hey Guys." Two-Bit said walking into the garage with Ponyboy in tow.

"Hey look Sodapop, it is Twiddle Dee and Twiddle Dum." Steve said trying to bring a smile to Sodapop's face.

"Who are you calling Twiddle Dum?" Two-Bit threw a punch towards Steve who was quick and had Two-Bit in a headlock.

Sodapop turned his attention to Ponyboy. "Darry, let you out of the house?"

"Yeah, I think he is going stir crazy there. Two-Bit showed up and Darry offered up for me to go with Two-Bit to come see you guys. He is really tensed up, Soda. I haven't seen him like this before. Not even when Mom and Dad died." Pony moved over closer to Soda.

"He's got a lot of his plate, Pon. I couldn't imagine being inside of his head right now. We need to cut him some slack. We need to try to make this a little easier on him." Soda tousled Pony's hair as he was pushing the creeper out of the way.

Two-Bit and Ponyboy hung out and watched Steve and Sodapop continue to work on the Hudson Hornet. They just sat around and was shutting the bull and drinking Pepsi's.

"Hey, I have to watch my sister tonight, my Mom is working the night shift, do you guys need a lift back?" Two-Bit asked setting his empty Pepsi bottle into the box crate.

Sodapop looked up at the clock inside the garage; it was close to closing time. "Nah, I am going to wait here until Steve closes up. Pony, you can stay with us if you want."

"Yeah, I don't want to go back to our house just let. Thanks though. I'll stay here with Steve and Sodapop." Steve just rolled his eyes when he heard Ponyboy's answer, but hell they only had another 20 minutes before closing time.

"Ok then. I'll catch you guys later." Two-Bit waved good bye and headed to climb into his car. The boys watched him pull away and then Steve turned to walk into the cash register shop.

"I am going to cash out. And get ready to close up. Soda, can you close up the garage?"

"Can you help me push the car out of the bay though? We need this bay for tomorrow." Soda was starting to walk towards the back of the car. "Pony, can you steer while Steve and I push?" Ponyboy smiled at the opportunity to drive even though he wasn't for real.

"Sure thing." Steve and Soda pushed the Hornet over to the side of the garage. Soda was getting a tarp from inside of the garage while Steve was cashing out the register and was shutting down. Pony was off daydreaming somewhere and was watching the sun starting to set. Pony was still zoning out tand didn't even feel Sodapop come up next to him.

"Do you think Darry will be wondering why we haven't come home yet?" Soda said placing a hand on Pony's shoulder. Pony twitched a little being startled from Soda's voice and touch.

"I don't know, Soda, you should have seen how he was acting. I have never seen him like that before. In away it was kind of scary. It was like I was looking at Darry, but it wasn't Darry. Does that make any sense?"

"Yeah, it does Pon. I just think Darry is so used to having control over everything in his life, and this is for sure way out of his control." Sodapop heard the sound of chains and keys and knew that Steve was putting the finally touches on closing up for the day. Soda's hand was still on Pony's shoulder and he tried to pull Pony in the direction of Steve. As the three were heading towards Steve's car they all piled into it. Once everyone was settled Steve put the key in the ignition and tried to fire it up. It just kept turning and nothing was happening.

"What the hell?" Steve tried again. After the fifth or sixth time, it still wouldn't turn. "We just fixed this thing!" Steve was hollering.

"I'll take a look at it tomorrow Steve. Me and Pony should really get home. Darry is probably wondering where we are." Soda knew that they had avoided home long enough for the day and really should be getting on back. Steve didn't want to give into the car though. "Come on Bessie. You can start, baby." But every time Steve kept turning the engine just wouldn't start. "Steve, come on. I promise I'll look at it in the morning. Let's just walk; we should get home before dark if we head out now." Soda turned to the backseat were Ponyboy was sitting biting at his nails, and nodded his head for Pony to get out. Both Curtis' were out of the car and were standing there looking at Steve. Steve threw his hands down on the steering wheel taking his frustrations out on the thing. He ran through a mouthful of cuss words before opening his door and slamming it shut.

"I just fixed the damn thing." Steve said again kicking the front driver's side tire on his way by.

"I guess this is what Darry was trying to tell me about the Hornet. I hope that I have better luck with that thing than old Bessie."

"Yeah, it probably was, but you never know." Steve said as he was kicking rocks with his foot as the boys walked out of the parking lot of the DX. What was a warm spring day in Tulsa was starting to turn a little chilly as the sun was going down and the boys were almost home. They were coming up on the field where the boys play their neighborhood football games. Sodapop and Ponyboy were just finishing their Pepsi's that they had from the station. Steve had found a rock that he had kick almost a half a block now and he give it a little bit of a hard kick and sent the rock flying towards the edge of the field. Steve followed the rock and when he went to kick it again he noticed something lying on the ground. He picked it up and realized that it was an article of clothing that looked very familiar, a jean jacket. As he brought it back over to meet up with Sodapop and Ponyboy, Soda asked a question.

"What do you have there?" Soda asked Steve.

"I think its Johnny's jacket. He must have left it here earlier today. It's the only coat the kid's got. You think he would take better care of it than just leaving it around." Steve said tossing it over his shoulder. Pony watched Steve toss it over his shoulder and noticed something strange about. The jacket seemed a lot dirtier than normal. Steve caught Pony looking at the jacket. "What? I am going to bring it back to your house and leave it for him there."

"It's not that." Pony stammered. "It, looks like he was rolling around in the dirt or something." Soda was closer to Steve than Pony was and took notice of the jacket and then Sodapop's eyes widen as he examined the coat more carefully.

"Pony, did you see Johnny at all today?" Soda asked.

"No, why?" Pony now getting a worried look on his face. Steve had taken the jacket back down from over his shoulder and was examining it as well. There on the collar of the jacket he noticed a maroon colored stain, and as he looked further he noticed more of the same color stains down the front of the coat. Steve and Sodapop locked eyes. At that moment all boys heard the very soft sound of moaning. Both Soda and Steve scanned the field, over in the far corner by some oak trees that lined the field from the street they saw the dark raven haired boy lying face down on the ground. All three boys sprinted towards the motionless body. Even though Ponyboy was the fastest out of the three, somehow Sodapop reached the boy first. Soda carefully rolled the very still boy over, in horror the boy's worst fear was staring them in the face, for the boy was indeed Johnny. He was the worst the boys had ever seen, even in some of the toughest rumbles they had been, they had never seen a face look as bad as Johnny's was looking now. The blood and the cuts, the bruises and the color almost made Ponyboy need to throw up. The boys couldn't believe what they were looking at. Johnny's face was so mangled and swollen that there could have been a split second that the boys might have not recognized him at all.

"NO!" Steve screamed out to the sky, and then dropped down onto his knees beside Sodapop and Johnny. I think Steve's screaming had grabbed the attention of the rest of the gang, because before Pony knew it, Johnny was being encircled by Two-Bit, Dally and even Darry. Dally was cussing up a blue streak while everyone else stood around feeling helpless. Dallas was trying to push Sodapop out of the way so that he could get closer to Johnny but Darry was using his strong muscles and was holding him back, for at this time Sodapop had lifted Johnny up a bit and was holding Johnny's upper body in his arms. Soda was cradling him close to his body.

"Johnny?" Soda's soft voice was calling out to Johnny, but there was no response. Ponyboy was just looking on trying to keep his lunch in his stomach. He didn't know what to do, or what to say, for he thought that his best friend might be dead. Please no, Pony thought. He wouldn't know what to do if his best friend dies. It would be too much to deal with after everything that has happened so far. Ponyboy's thoughts were going a hundred miles a minutes as he looked down at the limp body belonging to Johnny. "Hey, Johnnycake, can you hear me?" Soda was gently shaking Johnny's body.

"Get off me, Darry. He needs me." Dally was struggling against Darry's grip, but that only made Darry tighten his grip more.

"Dallas, just calm down. We need to give him some air. Let Sodapop try first." Darry was trying to talk down Dallas.

"Johnny?" Soda tried again. Finally there was a very weak voice that answered back to Soda.

"Soda?" Johnny's voice was heard, even though his body hadn't moved and his eyes hadn't open.

Soda breathed a little sigh of relief. "Yeah, Johnny, it's me." Soda turned to the rest of the gang who was patiently waiting for a sign of life.

"Soda it hurts so bad." Johnny managed to get out in between the moans.

"Shh. Johnny, don't talk none. We are all here. We are going to take care of you. Just stay hushed. It's going to be ok." Soda was brushing Johnny's bangs out of his eyes and face. Darry finally let go of Dally, now that they knew he was alive.

"Soda, slide over I am going to pick him up." Darry bent down to lift Johnny out of Sodapop's arms. The gang all made way for Darry to take over. The gang was always good at following Darry's lead.

"Darry?" Johnny was sobbing.

"It's ok, Johnnycakes, I got you. They are gone now. It's ok." Johnny was trying to tell Darry what had happen.

"Darry, I didn't know what to do, I was out numbered." Johnny started coughing and choking a little on his sobs.

"Johnny, I am taking you back to our house. I'll take care of your injuries. But Johnny for some reason felt like he needed to keep explaining. Darry could feel him shaking in his arms. Darry wasn't sure if it was because he was still scared or if it was because he was trying to fight to control himself, for he was now just crying and sobbing. But Darry didn't care either way, for after what he just endured he has all right to cry and sob.

"Darry, it was a blue mustang, with four Socs in it. One guy had a fist full of rings on, Dar.." Johnny was trying to tell his story in between gasps, and moans, and sobs.

"Johnny, shh. Just lay still." Darry tried to direct Johnny to stay quiet.

"Those god damn basters! I am going to hunt down each and every one of those Socs and kick in their heads." Dally still didn't have his anger under control at all. Dally was smashing his right fist into his left hand but following right on Darry's heels.

Ponyboy was standing still in the blood stain grass watching as Darry carried off his best friend. He couldn't move, he couldn't speak, and he just couldn't believe this. As the gang was speed walking behind Darry and Johnny, Sodapop had paused and noticed that Ponyboy wasn't around them. He turned his head slightly and noticed Pony standing as stiff as a tree just looking down at the grass. Soda retraced his steps back to the scene of the crime and threw his arm around Ponyboy's shoulder. "Come on, Pon. He is going to be alright." Pony's eyes slowly moved up from the stain grass up to Sodapop's face. Soda reached over and swiped a stray tear that was rolling down Ponyboy's face. "It's going to be ok, Pony."


	2. Chapter 2

Chapter 2

Sodapop finally got Ponyboy to move on back to the house. Soda knew that this was going to hit Pony hard, not only was Johnny going to be jumpier more than ever, but Sodapop was afraid that Pony would be too. It just isn't fair that greasers can't walk alone in their own neighborhood without having to worry about being jumped and hurt as badly as Johnnycakes was right now.

"Darry, you know what this means don't you?" Dallas was yammering at Darry.

"Dally, you need to get it together, for Johnny's sake." Darry noticed that Johnny was lying very still in his arms. Darry was afraid that he had slipped back into unconsciousness again.

"This means a rumble, Dar. Those sons of bitches are not going to get away with hurting Johnny like this, and on our turf, no way." Dally was moving right along with keeping up with Darry's fast pace.

"Drop it, Dallas. This is not the time or the place for this discussion." Darry stopped for a brief second to make eye contact with Dally to reiterate that this topic of conversation was over.

"God damn it, Darry! Whose side are you on, anyways? I mean look at the kid!" Dallas was now standing face to face with Darry.

Two-Bit and Steve had moved closer to Darry and Dally, being afraid that they would have to hold Dallas back from going at it with Darry. "Dally, lay off, Man. Let Darry get into the house with Johnny so he can start tending to his wounds." Two-Bit had put his hand on Dallas's arm just in case he tried something stupid.

Because the boys had stopped up ahead, Sodapop and Ponyboy were able to catch up to the group. The gang started moving again and everyone was quiet. They moved swiftly across the field and were approaching the side of the road when Darry looked up and noticed a shadowy figure standing on the side of the road watching the group of boys. Darry let out a sigh, "Oh, great." He said as he moved closer to the figure.

"I thought I told you to get in the house?" Darry's tone was loud and stern.

"You did. What happened to Johnny?"

"Sara, get in the house, now." Darry demanded. The sun had almost completely gone behind the horizon now and Sara couldn't really see to much of Johnny's injuries, but could tell that he was hurt. Darry crossed the street to their house. "Sara, I said now." Just as Darry gave Sara his last warning about getting in the house the boys came over to her and Two-Bit knowing that Sodapop had his hands full with keeping Ponyboy calm, and Darry had Johnny, he better step in with Sara.

He grabbed her little hand, and said, "Sara, you don't want to make Darry mad. Let's get in the house." Two-Bit led Sara through the Curtis' yard and up the porch.

"Two-Bit, what happened to Johnny?" Sara tried to ask again.

"He just got hurt that is all." Two-Bit said holding the door open for her to get in the house. By the time Two-Bit and Sara had gotten into the house, Darry already had Johnny down on the couch and was trying to clean his cuts up with some hydrogen peroxide. Johnny was winching at every touch of the cotton ball that Darry would put up to the wounds. The worse was the cuts on Johnny's face from all the rings the Soc was wearing; they were so deep and bloody. Everyone took a seat somewhere in the living room with the exception of Dally who was just pacing back and forth.

"Dally, you are going to wear a path on the floor, why don't you just have a seat." Darry spoke softly to Dally.

"I can't, Man. " Dally did managed to stop for one second and took a good look at Johnny, then like a flash of lighting Dally was heading out the door.

"Two-Bit, Steve, go with him before he gets himself arrested, or worse." Darry hollered over to the boys. Both boys didn't need to be told twice and were out the door right behind Dally. For they all knew that Dallas was a ticking time bomb that was ready to go off at any moment. Darry drew his attention back from the door onto Johnny. "Sara, go get ready for bed." Darry was looking down at Johnny but speaking to Sara.

"Is Johnny going to be ok?" Sara's voice had a hint of fear in it, for now that she could see Johnny in the light of the living room, she didn't know what to think, for he looked ten times worse than when she witnessed Soda and Steve getting beat up the other week by Peter Parker. Soda could see the fear in Sara's face so he got up out of Darry's chair and moved closer to her.

"Johnny is going to be ok, it's just going to take a few days for him to get better, that's all. Why don't you go on and get ready for bed like Darry asked." Soda was trying to push Sara in the direction of her room, but she was resisting.

"Darry, what do you think? Is he going to be ok?" Sara needed to hear the reassurance from Darry more than from Sodapop right now. Darry who was placing a bag of ice on Johnny's cheek finally looked up at Sara and spoke.

"Just like Sodapop said Sara, he will be fine in a few days. But for now you don't need to worry any. Go on, get ready for bed." Darry motioned with his hand for her to go. Sara took one more look at Johnny and then with guidance from Sodapop she moved down the hall to her room. Soda helped Sara change out of her dirty clothes and into some pj's. Sara was being very quiet, when Soda was putting her into bed.

"Sara, you do believe Darry and I when we tell you that Johnny is going to be ok, right?" Soda was pulling the covers back for her to get into bed. But Sara didn't answer she just shrugged her shoulders. "Darry and I don't want you to worry about this." Sara finally said something as she was scooting down into the covers.

"Soda, why does this stuff happen to us?" Sara had a puzzled look on her face.

"It's hard to explain, BabyGirl." Soda wasn't really in the mood to try to explain to his baby sister about the different eco social classes in Tulsa.

"Please, Soda? I need to know why these bad people keep coming to our neighborhood and hurting the people that I love and care about. I just don't get it." Soda wasn't intending to stay long, but now that he had to try to explain this he sat down on Sara's bed and was trying to figure out where to begin.

"There are people in this world that think they are better than other's because of the amount money they make, or because they drive fancy cars, like the ones I work on at the shop, or by the size of their house, and the type of clothes they wear, things like that. But not all people that have those things are bad people, just some are. And they think that just because they have all of those things that they can hurt people that don't have the same things as they do. Do you understand that?" Soda really didn't know how else to explain this to someone as young as Sara. Sara had her lips pursed together and was moving them from one side of her face to the other and wasn't really saying anything. "Sara, do you understand what I am trying to say?" Soda was waiting for an answer.

"I think so. But it still doesn't make it right." She said finally lying her head down on her pillow.

"No it doesn't make it right. But it has been this way for a very long time, and probably will continue to be this way for many more years to come. It's just something that is hard to change. And until it does change we just have to try our best to deal with it and try to stay out of trouble." Soda gave Sara a little wink; for they hadn't really told her about the real reason Mrs. Roberts had shown up for a visit on Thursday. Darry had just told Ponyboy and Sara that Mrs. Roberts had heard about the trouble that they had been involved in the past couple of weeks and how they ALL had to try hard to stay out of trouble.

"Don't worry Soda, I am going to be so good, and stay out of any trouble because I don't want that Mrs. Roberts coming here anymore." Sara was grabbing the blankets and pulling them up close to her.

"That makes two of us, little lady! I don't want that Mrs. Roberts here anytime soon either." Soda leaned down to place a kiss on Sara's head. When he came back up from the kiss he just looked at his sister. "Have I told you how much older your new hair cut makes you look?" Soda really did like her new haircut. It came down just below her chin and flipped naturally towards her face. It was still long enough though if they wanted to put it up, but the hairdresser told Darry about headbands and Darry picked up a few and he is very happy with them. Sara can put them in herself and so far they are keeping the hair out of her face.

"Yes, Soda, like a million times already!" Sara giggled at her brother.

"Ok. Ok. I just can't get over it." Sodapop smiled back down at Sara and said, "Sleep tight, don't let the.."

"Bed bugs bite." Sara finished his sentence for him.

"Yeah, something like that." Soda got up and turned her lamp off.

"Soda?" Sara called out into the darkness of her room. Soda stopped before closing the door all the way and poked his head back into the room.

"Yeah, squirt?"

"Thanks for taking me to grab lunch and playing miniature golf today. It was fun. Can we do it again sometime?" Sara did enjoy the little outing that the two had. She knew that Sodapop would keep to his promise, he always does. It is one brother she knew she could count on to carry through with his promises.

"You bet. Maybe next time we can bring Darry and Ponyboy along. What do you think about that?"

"Sounds good, but Darry and Pony probably won't let me win like you did."

"Probably not, Kiddo. Get some rest. See you in the morning." Soda closed the door and walked back to see how Darry was doing with Johnny. As he ventured back out to the kitchen his stomach gave a little rumble, for he hadn't eaten since he took Sara out for a burger and fries. He was fishing through the fridge to see if there was any left overs, but no such luck. He did notice a package of hot dog, that would do he thought. "Hey, Ponyboy?" Soda shouted into the living room.

"Keep your voice down!" Ponyboy came out to the kitchen looking at Soda.

"Sorry, just wanted to know if you were hungry." Soda said closing the refrigerator door.

"I could eat something, what do you got in mind?" Pony took a seat down at the kitchen table waiting for Sodapop to serve him.

"Just hot dogs, but I am willing to cook you up some too." Soda took the package out.

"Yeah, I will take a couple."

"Well at least you can do is set the table and get the mustard and relish out." Sodapop harassed Pony for just watching him do everything. "And go ask Darry if he wants any." Before Pony was going to set the table he walked back into the living room, where Darry had moved off the couch with Johnny and was now sitting in his chair.

"Darry, Soda is cooking hot dogs do you want any?" Pony was standing between the entry way of the kitchen and living room looking at Darry.

"No, Sara and I had BLT sandwiches for dinner. Thanks anyways. After you eat, you should get cleaned up and finish up that homework." Darry was watching Johnny's shallow breathing from his chair, but was relieved though because he looked like he was resting as comfortable as possible.

"I will, Dar." Ponyboy walked back into the kitchen to finish setting the table. "Darry doesn't want any." Pony said to Sodapop while grabbing two plates from the cupboard. Pony had just finished getting the mustard and relish from the fridge and was sitting down when Darry entered the room and pulled out a chair to sit with the boys at the table.

"I want you two to be very careful around the neighborhood for a while. No walking by your lonesome. You both hear me? You call for a ride if you need one. I would say these Soc's are in rear form right now. And who the hell knows what Dallas is going to get us into with his mouth." Darry was spinning the relish around on the table while talking with the boys.

"We will, Dar. Don't worry about us. We will be careful, won't we Pon?" Soda said setting down the hot dogs for the two of them.

"That's for sure." Pony said taking a bite of his dinner.

"Soda, did you put Sara down for bed, or is she still in there looking at her books?" Darry was looking down towards a quiet hallway; he couldn't even hear any music floating out from her room.

"Yeah, I put her right to bed. She should be sleeping. I tried to wear her out for with playing miniature golf and all, not sure if it worked or not though. You know she is pretty damn good at that game. Even though I thought I was letting her win, she was holding her own really well. We might have another athlete on our hands, if she doesn't turn into a cheerleader first." Sodapop said grinning from ear to ear, knowing how Darry felt about the type of girls who were Cheerleaders at Will Rogers High.

"Over my dead body!" Darry knew all to well the kind of reputation cheerleaders can get.

"We'll just have to wait and see I guess." Soda was now just trying to get Darry going, but it didn't really work.

"I would say we have a little time ahead of us before that might happen." Darry glanced over at Pony whose ear were starting to turn a crimson red. This poor kid, Darry thought. Any mention of girls made him blush, but Darry and Sodapop knew that this would soon change in a year or so. Pony could tell the boys were watching him and he wanted to avoid any more embarrassing talk about girls or cheerleaders so he got up from the table and put his plate in the sink.

"I am going to take a shower; I will do the dishes up when I get out." He said to Darry on his way by to the bathroom.

"Sounds fair enough." Darry watched Ponyboy walk to the boy's room and waited for him to enter the bathroom before turning to Sodapop. Once Darry heard the click of the bathroom door he was ready to bring Sodapop up to date on things with Sara. "Soda, I have some news to share with you." Soda immediately focused on Darry. "I talked with Mrs. Roberts this afternoon. I told her that I was not interested in her proposal of placing Sara in a temporary home and that I was ready to fight her tooth and nail over this." Darry paused still spinning the relish jar.

"And?" Soda couldn't stand not knowing the outcome of the conversation.

"And, I can't believe it but she is going to give us two weeks to show our bills are paid on time, and show that none of you have been in any more trouble. So I need your help in keeping this place in tip top condition. I told her that she could stop by any day, any time of the week, and I think she will. We need to prove to her that this is the best place for Sara. But we are also going to need to figure something out about Sara and the DX station. We can't have her being spotted hanging around anymore. We have to figure something out for just this week. After State's are through on Saturday, Pony can get her until the rest of the school year is done." Darry had finally stopped fidgeting with the relish jar and had now folded his hands together on the table.

"Maybe we could get Two-Bit or Dally to watch her just until Pony gets home from practice. Until we can talk with them about it, I can call Joe and see if he can come in early for me tomorrow. Dar, we will take it one day at a time. We should be kind of celebrating the fact that we know that at least we have two more weeks with her, and to make this right with Mrs. Roberts. I don't know about you, but that just took a little weight off my shoulders." Soda was smiling at the news that Darry had just shared with him.

"I'll tell you what little buddy; there will be no celebrating until we get the final word that she is here to stay." Darry couldn't get his hopes to high right now, for Mrs. Roberts made it clear that anything could still happen within the two week period, so no celebration yet. "We need to keep this under the lid, Sodapop. I don't want her or Ponyboy to know any of this. You got it?"

"Darry, I got it." Soda had gotten up and started washing the dishes for Pony, not so much to help Pony out, but more so to keep himself busy. "Dar, if you told Mrs. Roberts she could come at any time, what are your plans to do with Johnny?"

"That is what I am trying to figure out. I'm sure the hell not going to send him back home in that condition. We'll just have to try our best and hope the hell that she doesn't show up here in the next few days. That's all." Darry was getting up from the table when he added to Soda, "Don't think I don't see what you are doing there, little buddy." But when Soda turned to look at Darry, Darry was smiling, so Soda knew he wasn't mad that he was doing Pony's job for him.

Darry had managed to get some aspirin into Johnny before heading off to bed for the night. Before he did that though, he made his rounds from room to room. All were quiet and asleep so he thought. Once Sara heard Darry latch her door shut, she waited for just a few more minutes before getting out of her bed. She tip-toed to her door, trying to avoid any creaky floorboards that she had in her room and slowly opened her door. She pooped her head out the door and looked for a clear hallway, once she knew it was safe she tip toed out to the living room where it was dark and she moved her way over to the dark haired boy lying very still on their couch. She crouched down beside the couch where Johnny's hand was dangling off the couch. She took her warm little hand and slipped it into Johnny's semi cold hand and whispered into his ear. "Johnny, they tell me that you'll be ok, but I don't know if I believe them or not. It scares me to see you like this. But I want to let you know that Darry will take real good care of you. I know this for a fact for he takes the best care of me. Sodapop tried to explain to me why this happened to you today, but I don't think I really understand him, maybe one day I will though. I hope that you start to feel better real quick." Sara placed a very small and light kiss on Johnny's hand and started to get up when she heard a very low, soft muffled voice reply back to her.

"Thanks, Sara."


	3. Chapter 3

Chapter 3

"I'm telling you Soda, you should of seen him last night, he was out to kill someone. He went around asking everyone he ran into if they knew anything about Johnny getting jumped by four Socs in a blue mustang. I haven't seen him like this in a long time. Two-Bit and I were doing all we could to keep him from pummeling someone, Soc or Greaser it didn't matter which."

"I don't have a good feeling about this Steve. We can't be getting involved right now with Social Services breathing down our necks about Sara. I promised Darry that we would ALL stay out of trouble. If we have a rumble we won't be able to be in on it." Soda said handing Steve a pair of pliers to fix the radio on the car that they were working on.

"You gotta be there, Sodapop, we need you and Darry. We need every man that we can get. I mean Johnny won't be able to fight and probably not Ponyboy either. So we will already be two men down." Steve tried to talk Sodapop into it.

"Nope, sorry, not this time. Not when my family is in jeopardy of being torn apart." Soda was now holding the radio so that Steve could rewire it. The boys reinstalled the radio and Soda was reaching for a Philips screwdriver when he heard George honking his horn.

"Shoot, Steve, I didn't notice how late it was. I'll be right back." Soda tossed Steve the screwdriver and was starting to head out to the curb when he was watching Joe driving in to the parking lot. "Hey, Joe." Soda yelled out and waved while heading out to the bus.

"Hi, Sodapop." Joe said jumping out of his truck.

"Thanks for coming in a little early for me today Joe. I appreciate it."

"Yeah, so don't I. I need the extra hours. My little boy has a birthday coming up and he wants a new Radio Flyer tricycle." Joe said smiling.

"Don't remind me." Soda said a little disgruntle. Soda knew that his family needed the money too, more so now than ever.

"What, that car you just bought off of eating up all your extra money?" Joe asked knowing how hard him and Steve have been working to get that thing up and running.

"Something like that." Soda said approaching the bus.

"Hi ya, Sodapop. How's it going today?" George asked while opening the door of the bus.

"Not bad, you?" Soda was watching Sara move up from her seat to the front of the bus.

"Fine, fine." George flashed Sara a smiled as she passed by. "Have a good night, Sara. I'll see you tomorrow."

"Bye George." Sara said dragging her book bag down the stairs.

"Sara, pick up your bag. You're going to ruin it dragging it like that." Soda scolded Sara while she was slumping down the stairs towards him.

"Kids will be kids." George shouted down to Sodapop smirking.

"That's for sure. Have a good night George." Soda immediately grabbed her bag before she put a hole in the thing. "Since when do you treat your things like this?" Sodapop asked Sara with a disappointed look on his face.

"What's the big deal, Soda? School is almost over anyways." Sara said with some attitude in her voice and body language.

"You're being a little sassy here, little lady, and I don't like it one bit. Would you be talking to Darry like this, if he was here?" Soda was looking directly at her wanting an answer.

"I am not being sassy! But isn't it the truth? School is almost over for the year." Sara responded.

"Who says you will be getting another one for the next school year?" Soda was just trying to make a point to Sara that just because the school year was almost over doesn't mean that she would be getting a new book bag for next school year. Sara didn't have a response for Soda, and just shrugged her shoulders. "That's what I thought." Soda shook his head a little not sure what had gotten into his sister today.

Sara wanted to change the subject off of her and onto something else. "Soda, how are we getting home today?" Sara had heard Darry remind the boys this morning that they were not to be walking alone and that they needed to call for a ride.

"Steve, why?" Soda and Sara were almost to the garage when Soda held out his arm in front of Sara so to stop her from entering the bay.

"What's that for?" Sara didn't understand why Soda was holding her back.

"Hush!" Soda shot Sara a warning look, but drew his attention back to the garage. "Steve, can you stop for a minute and run me and Sara home?" Soda was yelling into the bay door.

"Yup, I'll be right there. Just go and let Joe and Frank know that I am taking you home. I'll meet you in the car." Steve said while opening a box with new parts in it.

"Sara, go get in Steve's car." Soda didn't want any witnesses seeing her entering the garage so sending her to the car was the best option. Sara stood there hesitating some, so Soda moved closer and grabbed her elbow and started escorting her to the car.

"Soda, what is going on? You're acting funny." Sara could sense that something was going on, but didn't quit know what that might be.

"Nothing, just do as I told you." Soda opened the door to the back seat and Sara climbed on in without giving him anymore lip. Once she was seated Soda tossed in her book bag. "Stay here." He shut the door with a little more force than he really needed to, but her attitude was getting to him some. As he turned to head to the break room to punch out and tell Joe and Frank that him and Steve were leaving, he passed Steve on the way to the car. "I'll be right back." Soda jogged into the break room and punched out. "Joe, Steve is taking his 15 minute break. He's bringing me and Sara home. He'll be right back. Can you let Frank now?"

"Sure. Have a good night." Soda waved to Joe and jogged back out to Steve and Sara.

"All set." Soda said getting in. Steve drove Sodapop and Sara home and the two walked up into the house together. Sara tossed her bag down and headed right back to her room. Sodapop was relieved for this; maybe she would straighten out her attitude a little. After grabbing a Pepsi out of the refrigerator he went over to the phone and picked it up and dialed a number. "Hi, can I speak to Sandy please? Oh, she's not. Can you tell her the Sodapop called? Thanks." Soda hung up the phone a little disappointed that Sandy wasn't home, but there were plenty of things that he could be focusing on right now anyhow. First, was trying to figure something out for dinner.

Meanwhile in her room, Sara was going nuts. She needed to find that card, she couldn't even remember the last time that she had seen it. She started with her bed, tearing it apart. She threw all the pillows and blankets on the floor. Then she took the sheets off, and still nothing. She started going into panic mood. The last time she remembered she put it under her bed to sleep on it, but that had to be nights ago she thought. Next she got down on the floor moving everything that she had just thrown on the floor further into the middle of the room. She looked under the bed and all that was under there was some candy bar wrappers, some dirty socks, cob webs and dust, but no card. She slowly stood up and looked at the mess around her, "Where did it go?" Sara was scanning her room when her eyes finally landed on her bookcase. She remembered seeing Darry organizing it the other day. Even though she remembers Darry telling her that if she doesn't start taking care of her books and toys than he would throw them out, and Sara knew that his threat was for real. But Sara just couldn't resist it anymore; she needed to find that card, for she had finally decided what to do with it. She kicked some of the blankets out of the way and moved to her bookcase. She frantically started tearing the books off the shelves. She was holding them by the binders and shaking them to see if it would fall out, but no such luck. She had every book that she owned on the floor and still no card, next was her dresser. She didn't remember putting it in there but maybe Darry or Soda had picked up some clothes or something and accidently took the card. Sara was leaping over things to get to the dresser; she opened the first drawer, underwear, socks, and undershirts. While she moved things around and was digging, clothing started flying out but she didn't pay any attention to them, her mind was focused primarily on that stupid card. Sara half closed the top drawer when she moved onto the second drawer of pajamas. She had just gotten the drawer open when she heard her name being called in a way that only meant trouble for her.

"Sara Marie Curtis!" Sara knew the sound of all of her brother's voices and she didn't even have to turn to see which one was hollering her name from the doorway, instead she slowly started to close the pajama drawer. "What on earth have you done in here?" Sodapop was trying not to step on anything as he was moving across the floor to get to Sara.

"I'm looking for something." Sara still hadn't turned around to look at Soda yet, for she could tell by his tone that he wasn't happy with her, she didn't need to see it on his face to tell her this.

"You best be getting this cleaned up before Darry gets home. He will go through the roof. You got 45 minutes, little lady." Soda started to turn around and walk out when he heard Sara respond with.

"I don't care." This stopped Soda and he whirled around.

"What has gotten into you today, Sara? You're being so bratty."

"I'm not!" Sara stomped her foot at Soda.

"Yes, you are. You have had this attitude ever since you got off the bus and it better stop now. Because I am telling you if you don't get rid of it before Darry comes home, you'll be sorry." Sara just let out a huff.

"I don't want to talk about it right now." Sara wanted to explain to Sodapop what was bothering her, but she just couldn't.

"Fine then, but clean this mess up, now." Soda moved back out of her room and was heading down the hall when the boys were barreling in through the door. He first heard Dallas and then Two-Bit and finally Ponyboy and Johnny. He hadn't seen Johnny since this morning and was wondering how he was doing. He looked like he was moving around better so that was good.

"Hey Sodapop." Pony was the first to greet Soda.

"Hi Pon. How was your day?"

"Edgy. Did you hear about the rumble set for Friday night?" Pony asked.

"Yeah, Steve told me when he got to work. Did the Socs bother you at school today?" Since Sodapop had dropped out he was always afraid of not being able to protect Pony while he was there, but knew that Steve and Two-Bit kept a good eye on him.

"No more than usually." Pony said dipping his head down. It was a lot harder for Ponyboy then it ever was for Soda for Pony was in a lot of the advanced courses with mostly Socs so he had to deal with them almost all day long. Soda walked closer to Pony and lifted his chin up. "Listen, we need to stay out of trouble for a while, I need you to just hang in there. If someone is bothering you tell me and I will mention something to Steve, got it?" Pony pushed Soda's hand away.

"It's not that bad." He mumbled.

"Sodapop, clear your social calendar for Friday night, man. We've arranged the rumble for 7:00 at the field. We're gonna' whip those Soc's for what they did to Johnny." Dallas said flopping down on the couch.

"Can't, not this time Dally." Soda didn't want to be the one having to give Dally the bad news.

"What?" Both Ponyboy and Dallas said at the same time.

"What the hell, man? They jumped Johnny." Dallas was now sitting up a little straighter.

"We can't get caught in any trouble, Dally. You'll have to go it without us." Sodapop tried to explain.

"It's not weapons or anything, Soda. We need to be there." Ponyboy was trying to gang up on Soda to get him to change his mind.

"It's ok, Pony." Johnny was speaking up. "You guys shouldn't be fighting just because of me." Johnny was feeling bad that a rumble was going to happen just because of him. He was never a big fan of rumbles and fighting but would join in to show his loyalties to the gang and to other greasers.

"No! It's not ok Johnny!" Dallas growled towards the kid.

"What did Darry say about this?" Two-Bit was now joining into the conversation.

"He doesn't know yet." Sodapop answered.

"Well, there you go then. I am sure once he hears about it, you'll all be there." Dallas seemed to be a little bit more as ease than a second ago.

"Don't get your hopes up." Soda knew Darry well enough to know what he was going to say about this. "Plus, Pony, you can't fight you have States on Saturday. There is no way you can take that kind of chance. So you can just forget it." Soda had decided on making American Chop Suey for dinner and he needed to get started with it so he headed back to the kitchen leaving the boys to continue to talk about the rumble. As Soda was puttering around getting the water boiling and getting the hamburger cooking he decided that he should check on Sara again. As he moved to the back of the house he couldn't hear much coming from room, not even her music, which was odd. Once he got to her doorway he was not impressed with the sight he was looking at. Her room literally looked like a tornado had just come through. It was worse than the first time he came to check on her. There was still books, blankets, clothes, and now toys completely covering her floor, you could no longer even see bare floor. "Sara?" His voice raised a he pronounced her name. "I thought I told you to clean this room up? It looks even worse than when I was in here before." Soda couldn't even make it any further than the doorway. "Sara, do you hear me?" Soda was trying to peak around the door to the closet to see where she was. He couldn't see her but when he called her name for the third time she finally answered. "Sara, answer me!"

"I'm in the closet." Soda pushed things to the side with his feet to get over to the closet. There he found Sara down on her knees with her head leaning against the doorframe of the closet with a lost look on her face.

"Sara, I can't believe you and this mess! There is no way you are going to get it picked up now before Darry gets here."

"I can't find it, Soda. I need to find it! I just gotta find it." Sara's voice was in between a whine and a cry.

"There is no way you're going to find anything now in this mess. Stand up and get picking up this mess." Sodapop started to move back to check on the hamburger and his boiling water when he heard a sob escape from Sara. Even though he wasn't happy with his little sister he still hated it when she cried, so he stopped. "What are you looking for anyways?" Soda thought he might as well asked just in case he knew what she was looking for.

"I can't tell you." Sara slowly said.

"Well then how do you expect any help?" Soda questioned her.

"I didn't ask for your help." Sara said a little sharply to Soda.

Sodapop just sighed he had no energy to continue this with her. "Fine, Sara. I can't win with you today. You better just get this cleaned up."

Soda moved back to the kitchen to finish up with dinner. As he was draining the water from the pasta he heard Darry pulling the truck into the driveway. He wondered how he was going to deal with Sara and that mess. Soda would bet money on it that she hadn't made a dent in there. Soda was tossing the pasta into the sauce and hamburger when he heard the door slam and the boys saying hi. "Who's staying for dinner?" Soda yelled into the living room.

"Not me. I am going home." Soda heard Two-Bit yell back and say good bye to everyone and then the door slam.

"Johnny? Dally?" Soda hollered in.

"Yeah, we are staying." Dally answered for himself and Johnny. Soda heard Darry checking in with Johnny and his injuries. "Ponyboy, come set the table." Soda yelled for some help. Sodapop heard footsteps coming into the kitchen by knew that they were to heavy to be Pony's so when Soda looked over his shoulder he saw Darry coming in with his lunchbox.

"Hey Sodapop." Darry peaked around Soda to see what he was cooking. "Smells good." Darry emptied out his thermos and was washing up for dinner. Soda knew that he better bring it up now to get it out of the way.

"Dar, can you go talk with Sara?"

"Why?What's going on?" Darry was putting the dish towel down.

"She's in a mood. She's being all bratty and sassy and she won't talk to me about it."

"If she won't talk to you about it, what makes you think she'll talk to me?" Darry let out a chuckle but started moving towards Sara's room. As Darry was rounding the corner from the kitchen to the hall he thought he heard Sodapop say something.

"Just wait and see, that's what." Soda knew that Darry's blood pressure was going to skyrocket when he saw that mess in her room, especially after spending time Saturday afternoon fixing her bookcase and Sodapop was 100 percent correct for not 20 seconds later he heard Darry hollering to Sara.

"Sara Marie, what the heck is this mess?" The house probably heard Darry yelling at Sara he was that loud. "I just spent time on Saturday organizing that bookcase. Don't you remember me telling you that if you couldn't keep this room picked up that I was going to throw the stuff away? What on all mighty possessed you to do this?" Darry was standing with his hands on his hips glaring at Sara and the mess she had created.

"I needed to find something, Darry. I'll pick it up."

"Damn straight you'll pick it up. What are you looking for?" Darry just was shaking his head at the sight he was looking at. He had never seen such a mess before, caused by one little girl. Sara was kind of just shuffling things around hoping that she had overlooked it somewhere. "Sara, I asked you what are you looking for?" Darry repeated himself for the second time. Sara knew that Darry wouldn't like her answer but she couldn't tell him just yet.

"I can't tell you." She said softly, keeping her head down so that she didn't need to look at Darry's sour expression.

"That's not any kind of an answer."

"Darry, Sara, dinner's ready" Soda hollered down to them. Darry held out his hand to help Sara out of the mess around her, he didn't need her stepping on something and breaking a bone. Sara hesitantly took a hold and let Darry pull her to where there was actually bare floor showing.

"Go wash up, and when dinner is over, you're coming right back her and getting started on this mess. You are not coming out of this room until everything is picked up, do you understand me? And little lady, if you ever do this again, I'll skin your bottom, got it?" Darry was pissed, but was going to give her a chance to fix it.

"I got it." Sara pouted off to the bathroom and started washing her hands, while the rest of the crew was joining Sodapop in the kitchen. As Darry was sitting down the first topic of conversation was started by Dally.

"Darry, have you heard about the news?" Dallas was leaning up against the counter poking his fork at the chop suey .

"What news?" Darry was passing Sara a plate of food before taking his seat.

"There is going to be a rumble this Friday night." Dallas said actually smiling.

"Now, why did you go and do something stupid like that?" Darry couldn't believe what he was hearing.

"For jumping Johnny on our turf, that's why." Dallas was starting to get irritated.

"Dally, we can't be there." Darry stated bluntly.

"What do you mean? It's for Johnny, Man." Dallas was eye balling Darry.

"I mean that Social Services is riding my butt on keeping these three out of trouble, so that means no rumble for us." Darry needed to be carefully on how he worded this with Sara and Ponyboy present at the table.

"What's a rumble?" Sara spoke up. She had heard the boys say this word before but wasn't sure what it meant.

"A rumble is when we go and kick some Soc ass; beat the tar out of them for making Johnny look like this." Dallas answered for the group.

"Dallas, watch the language, and hand over 10 cents." Sodapop was holding out his hand for the 10 cents for the cuss jar. Dally just pushed Sodapop's hand out of the way.

"Go to hell. Darry, you're turning soft, man. Since when do you not stand up for your own kind? If I didn't know better, I would think that you're turning into a Soc yourself there Darry." Dallas slid his plate down onto the counter and stormed out towards the living room where they all heard the screen door slam shut behind him.

"Come on, Dar. We need to fight in that rumble on Friday." Ponyboy was looking over at Darry who was sipping his milk.

"No, Pony. And even if Social Services weren't riding my butt, the answer would still be no. Are you forgetting that on Saturday you will be running in States? You think I am that stupid to let you go fight in a rumble. Golly, Pony." Darry said reaching for a piece of bread.

"I'll be fine, Dar. It's not like it is weapons or anything." Pony turned to Soda to try to get his support. "Tell him, Soda. Tell him it'll be fine." Pony pleaded with Soda.

"Not this time, Pon. Sorry." Soda said while he was loading his plate up with seconds.

"I don't get it." Sara said pushing her food around. "We don't like it that people did this to Johnny, so why would you go do it back to them?" Sara was trying the follow the conversation but was getting confused.

"We aren't" Darry said harshly.

"It's not fair." Pony whined.

"Well, that's the way it is going to be. I don't want any of you going anywhere near that rumble Friday night, you got it?" Darry gave out his clear warning to them all.

"Got it, Dar." Soda said in between bites, but Pony still hadn't answered.

"Got it, Ponyboy?" Darry pressed again.

"Yes, Darry." Pony said getting up and putting his dish into the sink and walking off towards the porch to have a smoke.


	4. Chapter 4

Chapter 4

After the family was done dinner, Pony and Johnny stayed and did the dishes, and Sara was sent off to her room to clean up the mess she had made while Darry and Sodapop moved into the living room to relax some.

"Dar, did you talk with Sara?" Sodapop asked half watching tv.

"Not really. I was to pissed when I saw that room. What would possess her to do that?" Darry said reaching for the mail. "And then she had the nerve to say that she can't tell me what she was looking for when I asked her. She better have that room clean when I go in there. I'll give her about an hour, but if it isn't cleaned up I swear I'm getting a trash bag." Darry was still looking through the mail as he talked with Soda about Sara.

"I know. She wouldn't tell me either, just that she was looking for something. I think something might of happened at school. She was fine when she left for school this morning, but when I got her off that bus this afternoon she was full of attitude. Is this how it is with girls?" Soda was half smirking.

"Kind of early for that I would think, but who knows. All I can say is she better lose that attitude though. She knows better than to destroy her room like that." Something in the mail had grabbed Darry's attention.

"What ya got there, Dar?" Soda noticed him studying a sheet of paper he just took out of an envelope.

"Directions and schedule for Pony on Saturday. I still can't believe he made it to States, and he wants to throw it all away by fighting in that rumble on Friday. He truly doesn't use that head of his." Darry continued to look over the information. "We are going to have to leave here at 4:00 in the morning to get him there in time. Wow that is going to be a long day."

"Are you sure you still want to bring Sara with us?" Soda was second guessing the thought. "Because if she isn't out of this mood she is in, than I just might strangle her before we even make it there." Darry let out a laugh.

"I told her that she could go. I can't change my mind now. We are going to be awfully cramp in the truck for a 4 hour ride. I should see if Steve or Two-Bit will trade vehicles for the day, or else we will both probably strangle her." Darry flashed Sodapop a smile.

"Should we venture in there and see how she is coming with that room?" Soda asked.

"Nah, let's give her some more time." Darry said moving onto another piece of mail.

XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX

The boys were enjoying their quiet night, the only gang member over was Johnny who was hanging out with Pony in the boy's room. Darry was looking over the newspaper and Sodapop was watching tv. When Darry heard the theme song to "Lassie" he knew that he should wander on back and check on Sara. They had left her in there for almost an hour and a half now and it was time for her to be getting off to bed. "I'm going in." Darry said getting up from his chair.

"Good luck." Soda said half stretched out on the couch.

"If you hear yelling you might want to come hold me back." Darry had Pony's informational letter in his hand and was going to place it on the refrigerator so they would know where it was. When he got over there he needed a magnet to post it up with but couldn't find one. He started running his hand on the top of the fridge to see if one was up there, he made one swipe when his hand hit a piece of paper. Darry stopped and looked at what it was. As he picked it up he knew right away what Sara was probably looking for. "Sodapop?" Darry said from the kitchen.

"What?" Soda yelled back. Darry started moving towards the living room knowing that Soda wasn't going to come to him.

"Soda, do you think this is what Sara is looking for?" Soda took his attention away from Lassie and his eyes landed on the card.

"I totally forgot about that. Did you ever talk with her about it?" Soda question.

"Nope, never got around to it." Darry looked down at the card feeling a little guilty that he hadn't found time to talk with her about it yet.

"Well, I guess now is as good of a time as ever. Want me to come with you? You know, just in case I need to hold you back?" Soda snickered.

"No, I think this is something I need to do on my own. I will try extra hard not to yell." Darry turned and started heading down to Sara's room, he could hear music coming from her room, "A Hard's Day's Night" by The Beatles. Darry wasn't a big fan of The Beatles; he considered them a sign that times were a changing. Darry paused before entering Sara's room; he took a big, deep breath and rounded the corner. Darry's eyes widen to the size of baseballs, he couldn't believe the sight that he was taking in. His eyes continue to dart around the room, what had happen in here he thought. He stepped back out of the room for a second and looked around to see if Pony was still in his room, and he was, and Darry knew that Sodapop hadn't moved from the couch since dinner, huh he thought. He walked back into Sara's room. "Sara?" Darry called her name to get her attention. She slowly moved around from facing her bookcase. "It's time for bed." Darry was moving over towards her dresser to get out a set of pajamas.

"But I am not finished, Darry. Just give me a little longer, I'll get it all picked up, I promise." Sara was starting to gather up her books to place them on the shelf so that Darry wouldn't take them and throw them out like he had threaten to.

"Sara, I said it is time for bed, now take these and go put them on and brush those teeth." Darry handed her the pajamas he had picked out and was pushing her towards the bathroom.

"Don't throw them out, please Darry. I was working hard, really." Sara's eyes started welling up with tears afraid that Darry was going to toss her books in the trash.

"I'm not going to toss them out. Now go get changed and get ready for bed." Sara gave Darry one more look not quit believing him, but she didn't want to give him any more reason to so she moved onto the bathroom, as she was entering the bathroom, Sodapop was just coming out.

"Getting ready for bed?" Soda asked noticing the clothes in her hand.

"Yup." Sara was trying to push her way passed Sodapop who was still standing in the doorway of the bathroom.

"Did you get your room cleaned up?" Soda hadn't heard any yelling so he assumed it was picked up.

"I didn't get it all picked up. Can you go make sure that Darry isn't throwing my books away? Please Soda?" Sara was giving Soda her puppy dog eyes.

"Did you at least find what you were looking for?" Soda was hoping he could get a little more out of her to see if it really was the card that she was looking for.

Sara let out a long sigh and her head tilted down and her eyes were looking at the floor of the bathroom. "No." she said very softly.

"That's too bad. All of that for nothing? I'll go check to see what he is doing with your stuff, but you know Sara, I won't be able to stop him if he is throwing them out."

"But you could try." Sara brought her eyes back up to meet Soda's.

"I'll try, now go." Soda pointed into the bathroom and closed the door as he was walking towards Sara's bedroom. When he entered Sara's room he found Darry making Sara's bed. "This isn't what I expected." Soda picked up a few books off the floor and placed them on the bookcase. "How much did you do?"

"This is the first thing, and she had it thrown together, but I just wanted to straighten it out some so it would as least last the night." Darry was finishing up the bed and was slipping something under her pillow.

"You mean she did this all by herself?" Soda was moving around and checking out the closet thinking she must have just thrown everything into it. But nope, it looked good. He then moved to her dresser and pulled out the first drawer, not to bad. Most everything was in the right place. "I'm impressed. I didn't expect this. She asked me to come in and make sure you didn't throw any of her stuff away." Soda picked up a stuff animal and handed it to Darry to place on her bed.

"I told her that I wasn't going to. Jeez, that kid just doesn't trust me sometimes." Darry was turning around when Sara walked slowly back into the room.

"Kiddo, it looks good." Sodapop walked over to Sara and ruffled her hair.

"Thanks, Soda." Sara slipped her arms around his waist for a hug. Soda gladly returned it back; he even leaned in and kissed the top of her head.

"Let's not do that again, though. Maybe next time you can just ask us if we have seen what you were looking for, or even help you, ok?" Soda gave Sara's back a few quick rubs before pushing her off towards her bed. "Sleep tight, Kiddo."

"Night, Sodapop." Sara looked up at Darry while she climbed into bed noticing that Darry had fixed it. "I didn't do good making it?" Sara asked.

"No, you did a good job, I just wanted to tuck everything in so that the blankets would stay on you all night that's all." Darry was watching Sara settle into bed when he added, "You know Sara, I am proud of you. I didn't think you were going to be able to get this place cleaned up on your own. You did good. It looks a lot better." Darry sat down beside Sara settling in to have the talk with her.

"Thanks, Darry. I am sorry that I made such a mess; it's just that I needed to find something." Sara said with sadness in her voice.

"Can you tell me now what that might be?" Darry was hoping that she might let him in on it.

"Something that I made at school." Ok, Darry thought, they were getting somewhere now.

"Sodapop told me that you were in a foul mood when you got home off the bus today, does this have anything to do with it?"

"Kind of." Sara said putting her head on her hand.

"No Sara, it's either yes or no." Darry corrected her.

"Yes." Sara was quick to change her answer.

"And?" Darry felt like this was starting to feel like pulling teeth from her.

"Ms. Martin wanted to know how you liked what I made and well, I lost it before I could show it to you." Sara's eyes started to glaze over with tears. Darry noticed that this was truly upsetting her. He didn't want her to be in more agony about it, so he slipped his hand under her pillow and pulled out the card.

"Are you talking about this?" Darry held up the card. Sara gasped.

"Oh, Darry, where did you find it?" Sara went to grab it from his hand, but Darry pulled the card back.

"Sara, I found it on the floor last week when I was in here. Why didn't you show it to us then?" Darry was still holding the card out of Sara's reach.

"I don't know." Sara said darting her eyes away from Darry's. Darry knew Sara well enough to know that she was lying to him.

"I think you do know." He said with some seriousness in his voice. When Sara still hadn't answered him he tried again. "Sara, I think you know very well why you didn't show it to us." Darry reached over and took Sara's chin in his hand and tilted it up.

"I was embarrassed." Sara responded looking at the card still in Darry's hand.

"Embarrassed? Of what?" Darry didn't understand what she was talking about.

"I didn't want you guys to laugh at it." Sara's voiced cracked a bit.

"Sara, why would we laugh at it?" Darry was somewhat hurt that Sara was having some trust issue with him and her brothers.

"Because the card was meant for Mothers, not brothers. Ms. Martin made me make a Brother's Day card so I wouldn't feel left out. It is stupid." Sara's cheeks started to turn a shade of red; Darry could tell that she really was embarrassed about this.

"Sara, remember that note Ms. Martin sent home and you forgot to give it to me?" Sara shook her head up and down. "Well, this is what the note was about. I already knew that you would be doing something like this, and it isn't stupid. I would have appreciated if you would have given it to us, rather than finding it on the floor." Darry was working hard at trying to make Sara feel less embarrassed about the card.

"You wouldn't of laughed?" Sara now was looking straight at Darry. "Really?"

"No. I wouldn't have laughed. You want to know the truth?" Sara nodded. "The night I found it I was out in the kitchen and had placed it on the table and Pony and Soda saw the card and they both thought it was real nice. Pony even said it was sweet." Darry stopped and placed his hand on the side of Sara's cheek and looked her right in the eyes and said, "Sara, the card was real nice." Darry noticed a tiny tear slipping from her eye. He took his thumb and quickly swiped it away. "Maybe next time though, it might be a lot easier to just show us, instead of trying to hide it from us, huh?"

"It's just hard sometimes." Sara said choking back more tears.

"I know it is, BabyGirl. But I heard that it gets easier." Darry bent down and placed a kiss on Sara's forehead. "Now, that we have gotten that out of the way, maybe you could try to get some sleep?"

"Can you read to me? Just a quick story?"

"I get to pick though." Darry smiled over at his little sister and was reaching for a book.

"Deal." Sara said lying down to get ready for the story.


	5. Chapter 5

Chapter 5

The week passed by pretty quickly for the Curtis Family. The house was full of excitement for many different reasons. The gang talked about the rumble all week, while the Curtis members were trying to forget the rumble but focus on their family trip to Oklahoma City for Pony's State meet. Steve agreed to trade vehicles with Darry for the day, so the Curtis' would have more room when traveling. Steve didn't mind to much for he was working most of the day anyways and wouldn't really need any wheels. The Curtis' were at the breakfast table before any of the boys had arrived yet and Darry noticed that both Sodapop and Ponyboy were being awfully quiet.

"Guys tomorrow is a big day. We'll have to be leaving here around 4:00 in the morning, so that means you two will need to be in early tonight." Darry was looking back and forth between Ponyboy and Sodapop. "It's to bed early for us all." Darry added the last part to let Sara know that this meant her too.

"How do you expect that to happen with the rumble tonight, Dar?" Pony asked scooping up some scrambled eggs from his plate.

"Easy, because neither of you will be any where's near that rumble." Darry said sternly.

"Can't we just go and watch?" Pony continued to try to get the answer he was hoping for out of Darry.

Darry started laughing. "Yeah, right. Like you guys could stand just going and watching from afar. That's a good one Pony, but the answer is still no." Darry got up and walked his plate over to the sink. "I know I can trust you, right little brothers?" Darry needed to hear it from them to believe it. There was something in his head that was telling him that one of them wasn't going to listen to him. Darry was looking at both boys but neither said anything but both did nod their heads. "I want to hear it boys." Darry warned.

"I promise, Darry, I won't be going anywhere near the rumble." Sodapop said placing his plate down in the sink.

"Glad to hear it." Darry slapped Soda's shoulder. "Ponyboy?" Darry tuned and was glaring at him.

"I'm not going anywhere near the rumble, Dar." Pony said quickly moving his eyes from Darry's.

"Good, and Sara, I don't want you going anywhere near that rumble either." Darry moved over and started tickling Sara in the ribs and laughing, this got the rest of the Curtis family laughing too.

"I wouldn't ever do that, Darry." Sara was wiggling and laughing trying to get out of Darry's hold.

"That's my girl." Darry stopped torturing her with tickles and let her loose. "Now let's get ready to leave." He tapped her bottom and gently pushed her towards the bathroom. The boys showed up right as everyone was finishing with their morning routine.

"Who's ready for a rumble?" Steve hollered while entering the Curtis' house.

"Hate to tell you this Steve, but you've got a whole day ahead of you before that happens." Darry said grabbing his keys from the table. "Your job right now is making sure my little brother here makes it to school, and on time."

"Have you've changed your mind about letting these two fight tonight?" Steve asked while throwing a punch at Sodapop.

"No." Darry was grabbing Sodapop by the sleeve to get him out the door.

"Then, I guess you have a whole day ahead of you before changing your mind." Steve wise cracked back at Darry.

"No I don't. The decision was already made 5 days ago, and nothing is going to change my mind about it, so you can just drop it Steve, and get Ponyboy to school, would ya?" Darry, Sodapop and Sara were making their way out the door. "Have a good day." Darry hollered over to Ponyboy.

"Bye Guys." Ponyboy said picking up his lunch bag and books off of the counter, "Let's get to school." Pony said while trying to get Steve and Two-Bit out the door.

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The whole gang still gathered at the Curtis' house even though Darry made it clear for the millionth time that no Curtis member would part take in this rumble.

"Sodapop, leave Superman and the kid here at some and come fight with is. I'll watch your back, you know that. If the Fuzz shows I'll make sure to get you outta there. You can always make up some excuse. Tell Superman you're going to the dance tonight with Sandy or sneak out, you used to be good at that. We need you there, I need you there." Steve had cornered Sodapop in the kitchen to try one last time to convince him to come along.

"Steve you know you're making this ten times harder for me than it already is. You don't think I don't want to be there? It is friggin' killing me not going with you guys. Seeing you all ready to go, Jesus, I want to be there with you, but I just can't this time. You know damn well that Darry and I would be there in a heartbeat if we could, but this is what we need to do to keep Sara in this house. If Mrs. Roberts ever showed up tonight and knew that we had been fighting it would be over." Soda said snapping his fingers to reiterate how fast it would happen. "I can't, I just can't" Soda said pushing Steve out of the way.

"I've never been in a rumble without you, Man." Steve grabbed Soda's shoulders to stop him to listen. "It won't be the same. Whose ass will I have to be saving?" Steve was now trying to make light of the situation.

"Hey, watch it! I think it is the other way around there buddy. Plus you know you can always come back here after and fill me in on all the details. I'll live this one through you this time. You better kick their asses. I don't want to hear anything else. You got it?" Sodapop playfully slapped Steve's cheek. As Steve and Sodapop were walking back into the living room they heard Two-Bit loud laughter.

"We're gonna kick some Soc ass!" Two-Bit was jumping up and down, trying to control his adrenaline.

"While you're jumping around there Two, you can drop 10 cents into that jar." Soda said taking a seat down on the couch. Two-Bit was in such a good mood he didn't even think twice about dropping the dime in.

"Jesus, the thing is filling up fast. We'll be able to treat ourselves real soon." Two-Bit was digging in his pocket realizing what he just did.

"Yeah, thanks to you." Darry said laughing at Two-Bit watching him drop another dime into the jar.

When Sara entered the living room she couldn't believe how loud it was. The boy's voices were much louder than normal and they were trying to compete with the music that had to be turned up to at least 9 or 10. Two-Bit and Dally were practicing throwing punches at each other and were dancing around the room while Sara tried to slip around them without getting bumped. Darry watched Sara as she was making her way towards Sodapop and Steve who were on the couch. "Tone it down some, guys." Darry was afraid what might come out of their mouths next and didn't need Sara's ears hearing any of it.

Sara was trying to squeeze in between Sodapop and Steve, as she was sitting down she announced to the room, "Why are you guys so excited about fighting? I don't think I would be to excited if I knew I was going to get hurt and on purpose."

"Greasers and Socialites, that's who," Steve said squeezing the back of Sara's neck, making her scrunch up her shoulders.

"Pretty stupid if you ask me." Sara said trying to push Steve's hands from the back of her neck.

"Well, we didn't ask you kid. And someday when you're older you'll get it." Dallas said stopping from his practice fight with Two-Bit and picking up his beer from the coffee table. "Come on, Dar, there is still time to change your mind about joining us. Leave the runt here with Ponyboy and you and Sodapop come join us. We sure could use your muscles." Dallas said taking another guzzle from his beer.

"You already know what I am going to say, Dallas. So might as well save your breath." Darry and Dallas locked eyes and just starred at each other for a moment, letting their eyes do all the talking that needed to be done between the two. Finally Darry broke the lock and spoke to the boys. "I want you to all use your heads out there. Don't try to take everyone on at once. Focus on one guy at a time. Help each other out and if you notice someone in a jam. Try not to stay in of the middle of the fight. Try to stay on the edges so that you can see everything in front of you. When you get in the middle there is to much action going on around you and then you end up taking a worst beating than you should. We'll be here waiting for ya all if you want to come back here. The couch will be open for anyone that needs it, ya all know that. I just ask that you keep it down for we have an early morning. We are leaving at 4:00 in the morning so if you stay here, just be prepared that we will be up and about early on. But you are more than welcome to stay here as long as you need. I will try to help with any injuries that you might need help with." Darry finished giving the boys his speech and looked up at the clock on the wall and noticed that it was 15 minutes of 7. "Now, get going, you don't want to be late." Darry stood up from his chair to bid the boys a farewell. "Good luck, boys." Steve was high fiving Sodapop from the couch and moved over to Darry where Darry was slapping each of the boys on their back as they were leaving. Two-Bit, Dallas and Steve were hooting and hollering as they descended down the Curtis' porch. Ponyboy and Johnny got up and started to head for the door as well when Darry put out his hand to stop them. "Where do you two think you're going?"

"Just to sit out on the porch for a while." Ponyboy said pushing Darry's arm out of the way.

"That's as far as you better be going. I am going to get Sara in the tub and Sodapop will be right here watching, so you better not go wandering off anywhere." Darry warned. "Sara, tub time." Darry motioned for Sara to get up from the couch and move on back to the bathroom. Ponyboy and Johnny let the screen door slam behind them but did have a seat on the porch steps and pulled out some cigarettes. "Sodapop just keep an eye on them." Darry said following Sara to the bathroom.

"Sure thing, Dar." Sodapop said getting up to shut the radio off and to turn the tv on.

Darry helped Sara get into the tub and stayed for a few minutes to help wash her hair. He couldn't believe how much easier it was now with it was so much shorter. "Darry, how come you guys like to fight?" Sara had been wondering this for a while now.

"We don't like fighting Sara, but sometimes it's the only way to solve a problem."

"It didn't look that way to me. The boys looked very happy and excited to be fighting." Sara was only being honest with Darry and calling it as she saw it. "So is it ok for me to fight if I need to solve a problem?" Sara asked.

"No, it's not ok for you to fight. " Darry knew that this conversation was not heading in the right direction so he tried to change it. "So, Sara we have a long day tomorrow, you know this right?" Sara nodded her head in agreement. "I need you to be on your absolute best behavior. You need to listen and follow direction. It is a big place we're going to and there is going to be lot of people there so it is important that you do as you're told. Got it?" Darry was starting to have second thoughts on letting Sara come with them; this sure was going to be an adventure, that he wasn't sure he was ready for.

"I got it. I'm excited to go on a road trip. I'm so glad that Steve is letting us take Old Bessie. You don't think she'll break down do you? That would be terrible!" Sara was starting to worry that they would be stranded on the side of the road, in the middle of nowhere and that Pony would miss the meet.

"Stop worrying. Sodapop checked Old Bessie out today, he fixed anything that he thought might be a problem. We'll b ok. I am going to check on your brothers and make sure they're still here. I'll be right back." Darry got up and wiped his hands off on the hand towel and walked out to the living room. To his amazement, both Sodapop, Ponyboy and even Johnny were watching tv, good he thought. All day he had this eerie feeling that something was going to happen to one of them. He was glad to see that wasn't the case after all. The boys were watching Truth and Consequences with Bob Barker. Ponyboy and Sodapop were bickering about who was right and who was wrong. Darry had heard just about enough of it. "That is enough you two. Sodapop can you go get Sara out of the tub for me?" Darry thought the way to get these two to stop for sure was to separate them for a few minutes.

"I'll do it. This show is stupid anyways." Ponyboy offered up and headed back to get Sara.

"Sara, are you finished? Darry sent me in here to come get you." Sara was surprised to see Ponyboy. He never helped with stuff like this.

"Why are you helping? You never help me get out." Sara was pushing the drain down when Ponyboy walked over to the edge of the tub with her towel.

"Does it matter?" Ponyboy lifted Sara out of the tub and wrapped her up in her towel. "I'm here to help; I would think you would want to take it." Pony hissed at his sister.

"Ok. I'll take it." Even though Sara still thought this was weird but followed her brother down to here room.

"Here put these on. Are you all set?" Pony looked at his sister hoping that she would say yes.

"Yup." Sara answered struggling to get her shirt on over her head. Pony could see she was struggling some, he let out a heavy sigh, even though he was antsy he walked over and helped her get it over her head.

"There. You think you can manage your pants ok?" He asked walking back over to her door.

"Yes." She sure thought that Pony was acting funny but didn't want to start anything with him tonight before his big day tomorrow.

"Good then. I am going to my room." Pony walked out and looked down the hall into the living room. He could see Darry reading the paper and could hear Sodapop talking to Johnny, but Pony wasn't in the mood to join them so he entered his room instead. He flopped himself on the bed and his head was spinning with so many thoughts. Even though he had just had a cigarette he was still feeling jittery. He got up off his bed and was wandering around the room; it was there that his eyes landed on his window that was wide open, maybe just maybe the thought.

Soda and Johnny were sitting and watching the game show when Johnny turned to Soda and said, "What's taking Pony so long?"

"Ponyboy? What's taking you so long?" Sodapop yelled out to Pony. There was no answer. "Ponyboy? Are you coming back out?" Soda yelled again. By this time Darry had lowered his paper.

"Ponyboy, come on out here." Darry tried, and still no answer.

"You don't think he?" Before Sodapop could even get the rest of it out, Darry was up and out of his chair faster than lightening striking. Darry rushed to Sara's room.

"Sara, have you seen Ponyboy?" Darry asked with a little panic in his voice.

"He told me he was going to his room, but that was a few minutes ago. Do you think he's ok? He was acting weird." The second Sara said he was acting weird Darry left her room and darted into the boy's room, there he found Sodapop looking at the wide open window.

"He didn't. Sodapop tell me he didn't?" Darry was looking at Sodapop in disbelief. "Stay here! I mean it Sodapop!" Darry was trying to hold back Soda from fleeing out the door. "I can't risk you too. I'm going to get him!" Darry headed out the door and started running towards the field. Soda couldn't let Darry go alone he needed to be there.

"Johnny, stay here with Sara. If she comes out, tell her we'll be right back." Soda was out the door before Johnny could say anything. Soda could see Darry's dark shadow speeding up the road. Soda's head was racing. How could Ponyboy do this? But then again he doesn't know the circumstances that they are under with Mrs. Roberts. He didn't know that they were so close to being torn apart, but not only that, what if he gets hurt? He'll be throwing all of his opportunity away at State's tomorrow. "Stupid kid!" Soda said into the wind as he raced after Darry and Ponyboy.

"Johnny?" Sara called out into the living room. "Where is everyone?" Sara had heard the commotion and the screen door slamming a few times and knew she needed to come see what was going on.

"Umm. Sara, they had to go do something." Johnny wasn't expecting to have to deal with this; he was completely caught off guard.

"What do you mean? Why wouldn't they have come and told me they had to go somewhere?" Sara moved over to look out the screen door as she was looking around the truck caught her attention, and then she moved her eyes from the truck to Steve's car and then to Two-Bit's car. Everyone's vehicle was still in the drive, so how would they go anywhere? "Johnnnny?" Sara started to say. "They went to the rumble didn't they? Pony went to the rumble didn't he?" Johnny slowly got up so not to scare Sara but he needed to be ready just in case she tried to do something crazy. "Didn't they?" Johnny noticed that Sara's hand was going towards the screen door.

"Sara!" Johnny hollered but it was to late, Sara had already pushed the door open and was heading out of it before Johnny could stop her.


	6. Chapter 6

Chapter 6

Sara didn't have any socks or shoes on and once she hit the Curtis' driveway she was having second thoughts about running, but she couldn't stop now. After all that talk that Darry did this morning and tonight about them not going and now look, they were going to be there after all. Sara was just about to round the corner from their driveway onto the road when she heard heavy breathing behind her. She turned her head and noticed that Johnny was right on her heels. Sara tried to quicken her step but the rocks from the road were starting to dig into her bare feet. Sara was ready to move further into the road when she noticed a fast set of headlights coming right towards her. "Sara!" Johnny screamed to get her attention. This slowed Sara's pace down and she moved back to the side of the road. Johnny was just fast enough to come up behind her and scooped her up with one arm and swung her out of the road, just as the red Chevy Corvair with four boys in it sped by.

"Get out of the road kids!" The driver yelled out at Sara and Johnny. Johnny knew that this wasn't good so he started running back towards the Curtis's house. The two were lucky that the car didn't stop, but instead that it had kept going. Johnny noticed the car hadn't slowed down at all and by the time the car slammed on its brakes Johnny had Sara safely back into the house.

"What do you think you're doing?" Johnny threw Sara down on the couch. "You could've gotten hurt!"

"I want Darry!" Sara tried getting up again from the couch but Johnny gently pushed her back down.

"You're not going anywhere! Just stay put for Christ Sakes." Johnny wasn't used to being harsh like this with Sara. Now if it was Steve or Dally they would probably being using some more colorful language and would probably not hesitate to use a little more force with her, but not Johnny.

"Johnny, why did they go? Why?" Sara was begging for answers.

"I don't know Sara. All I know is they went to look for Ponyboy. Soda went for the door first but then Darry stopped him and then both were gone before I could do anything. But the best thing is for us to stay here and just wait for them." Johnny was trying to talk logic to Sara.

"But they're going to get hurt! I don't want them to get hurt, Johnny. I don't want them to look like you did." Sara confessed her true fear to Johnny.

"They won't. I promise you that." Johnny slowly and carefully sat down next to Sara, not getting to comfortable just in case she tried to bolt again.

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As Darry was approaching the field he could see all the headlights from the vehicles shining onto it. He could see that the fight was still going on. It looked like the numbers were low though. Darry thought that could be for not as many had turned out or that they were already started to bail. Darry was hoping for the second, that the Socs were starting to bail, less chance that Ponyboy getting hurt. As Darry ran onto the field he could hear someone calling his name from behind him. He carefully looked over his shoulder and noticed that Sodapop was hot on his tail. Damn it he though. "Soda, go home. I'll get him." Darry yelled back. "Now!" Darry hollered again, hoping that Soda would listen, but hell neither one of them listened to all his earlier warnings. The closer Darry got, the more he could put faces to the shadows that were fighting. He could see Tim Sheperd and Dallas, Two-Bit, but he couldn't see Steve or Ponyboy. He didn't get to much further when a Soc was coming at him swinging. Darry quickly gave a right hook to the boy's jaw and dropped him like a sack of potatoes to the ground. Darry was still scanning when he noticed that Two-Bit was being ganged up by two Socs and so he swiftly moved over and grabbed a hold of one of the Soc and threw him to the ground and kicked him a few times. "Two-Bit, have you seen Ponyboy?" Darry asked in between kicks.

"No." Two-Bit said swinging at the other Soc that was jumping on him.

Sodapop was waiting on the outskirts of the field but as he was waiting there he noticed a certain Greaser being pummeled by three Socs. As Soda inched closer his thoughts were correct, that certain Greaser was no other than Steve. Soda only waited another couple of seconds hoping that someone would notice and go and help Steve, but no one was taking note. Soda couldn't just stand by and let this continue to happen, so instinct kicked in and Soda ran onto the field. He started by swing like a raven bantchy. Sodapop wasn't even sure if he was making contact with any of those Socs but he just kept swimging hoping to get some of them off Steve. He was taking a few hits himself from them Socs too. He was trying all he could to protect his face so there wasn't any visiblesigns just in case Social Services did make an appearance like they had promised. Soda was keeping his head ducked low but was taking a lot of hits in the arms and ribs. Soda had finally knocked one of the Socs down on the ground when help came over. "Sodapop, I told you to stay put." Soda took a quick glace up when he noticed that the person coming to his recess was of course no other than his big brother. Darry was doing a pretty good number on the remaining Socs that were on Steve when Soda asked "Have you seen Ponyboy?"

"No, but help me drag Steve over here by the trees so he's out of the way." Soda and Darry managed to get Steve out of harms way, when Darry turned to Sodapop. "Stay here with him. I mean it Sodapop. Don't even try to test me. I need to find that kid brother of ours." Sodapop had seen enough action for the night to satify him, so he wasn't planning on leaving Steve's side.

"I will Dar." Darry felt pretty confident that Sodapop would do what he asked, so Darry turned to head back into the action. The numbers were dwedlling real fast so it was making it easy to try to find who he came here to get. A few more Socs came at Darry, but Darry was using his skills and muscles to fight them all off, unlike Sodapop, Darry wasn't trying to protect his face, for he was trying to keep his head up as much as possible so that he could find his kid brother. Just as a Soc was taking a shoot at him, he noticed a small Greaser on the ground a few feet in front of him. He knew exactly who that little Greaser was, Ponyboy. Darry was fighting his way to try to make it over to him. "Ponyboy!" Darry was trying to yell against all the sounds of boys moaning, and crying and punches hitting skin and making damage on bones and such.

Dally was just finishing off on a Soc that fit one of the describiton of the boys that jumped Johnny and noticed that a Greaser was being beat up on pretty good just to his left. Once the Soc that Dally was beating on started stumbling towards his car, it seemed that more Socs were taking his lead and were also high tailing it back to the their cars. In the distance all boys heard the sound of sirens. This caught Sodapop's and Darry's attention. Soda was quickly trying to get Steve to his feet. Steve fell a few times trying to get to his feet, but once he was up the two slowly started heading back to the Curtis' home.

After the crowd started heading out Dally noticed that the little Greaser on the ground was Ponyboy. "What the hell, Kid? What are you doing?" Dally reached down and was about to pull Ponyboy to his feet when Darry was pushing Dally out of the way.

"We have to hurry, Dally." Darry said with fluent motion picking Ponyboy up under his arm pits and had him standing. "Ponyboy, can you walk?" Darry asked looking down at Ponyboy. Pony didn't answer at first. "Ponyboy, we need to get outta here." Darry could hear the sound of sirens getting closer. "Hurry, we don't have much time left." Darry looked back at the group of Greasers still standing around, it was mostly Tim Sheperd's gang and some other Greasers that didn't really belong to any gang. Two-Bit was limping over to join the group and Dally was trying to help with Ponyboy, but where was Steve and Sodapop, Darry thought. He threw a quick glance over to where he had left the two, but the spot was empty. What the hell? Darry could only hope that both boys had heard the sirens and had tried to get back to the house. "Ponyboy, we need to get outta here! Prompto!" Darry couldn't wait anymore for Ponyboy so he turned to Dally. "Dally grab a hold of one of his legs like this." Darry was holding Ponyboy under his knee cap. Dally did the same and Pony had managed to throw an arm around both of the boy's shoulders and they tried running with him off of the field. As they were approaching the edge of the field onto the road, Darry could see Sodapop helping Steve up their stairs into their house. Darry could now breath a little easier knowing that at least two were safe. The Fuzz were pulling their cars onto the field just as Darry, Dally and Two-Bit were heading up the street. They just needed to make it 500 feet or so to be safe from the Fuzz. Darry was just counting every step until they finally made it to their drivway. Once in the their yard, Dallas had let go of Pony, and so did Darry. Pony seemed to be coming around. He started taking some steps on his own, wobbling a bit, but Darry was a little relieved to see that at least he was walking without any assistance.

The group started stumbling into the house when Sara jumped right off of the couch, but Johnny caught her arm to hold her back. The first two through the door were Steve and Sodapop. "Let me go!" Sara demanded. Once Johnny noticed that Sodapop was with Steve, Johnny let Sara go. She immediately ran over to Soda at the door. "Sodapop? Why did you go? Darry told us not to go. Are you hurt? Where's Darry and Pony?" Sara stopped as she heard more voices coming from outside. She pushed her way passed Soda and Steve and was opening the screen door when she noticed Two-Bit and Ponyboy coming up the walk way. Sara couldn't control her Irish temper for one more second. "Ponyboy Micheal Curtis, that was the stupidest thing ever! You heard Darry say to stay away from the rumble. I know your ears work just as good as mine and I heard him say it to us a million times not to go any where near that rumble." Pony instantly cut Sara's last words off.

"Shut it, Sara! I'm not in the mood." Pony said shoving her to the side as he entered the house.

"Darry!" Sara yelled as she noticed two more shadowy figures making their way from the driveway. Sara fled down the stiars and was running towards Darry and Dally. "Darry!" Dally was the first to speak.

"Hold on there little Curtis. Where are you going, to a fire?" Dallas was holding out his arm to help slow Sara down for causing a collision with her and Darry.

"I want Darry!" Sara screamed at Dallas, who released his hand from her arm where he had grabbed her.

"Sara, calm down. Everyone is safe. We're all back in one piece." Darry reached over and placed his hand on her back to guide her back into the house.

"I was scared, Darry. Really scared. When I came back out to the living room everyone was gone, except for Johnny. I got scared that something real bad was going to happen to you."

"There's no reason to be scared, Sara." Darry was trying to usher her back into the house.

"But." Sara started to say before Darry interrupted her.

"No, buts, Sara. We're all ok. Now let's get into the house." Sara didn't want to argue with Darry so she followed along with him and Dally into the house. Once they got inside, they found Sodapop helping Steve tend to his injuries, and Two-Bit was sitting on the floor with a bag of frozen peas on his eye and Ponyboy was nowhere to be found. Darry looked over at Sodapop. "Where is he?" Darry asked coldly.

"He's in our room." Sodapop handed Steve some cottonballs and perioxide. "Dar, maybe you should leave him be for a minute or two. Johnny's with him now." Soda was trying to help Ponyboy out by speaking up to Darry.

"I don't give rat's ass who is in there with him." Darry marched right on passed the group and was heading towards Ponyboy's room. The door was closed, but that didn't stop Darry none. He smashed the door open with his fist and partically made both Johnny and Ponyboy jump half out of their skin. "Damn it, Kid. When you tell me you're going to do something, you best be doing it." Darry had Ponyboy up off the bed with his finger pointed at his face.

"Darry, just let me explain, I just needed to get out of this house." Darry didn't really care to much for an explanation.

"I just don't get you kid! Why would you risk hurting yourself when your ticket out of here awaits you tomorrow? I try Ponyboy, I really do. To understand why you do the things that you do, but this, this one has to top them all off, by far." Darry finally backed up a bit so that Pony could have some breathing room.

"Obviously, you wouldn't understand, anyways." Pony started to walk out of the room.

"Where the hell do you think you're going, now?" Darry had his arm across the doorway to stop him.

"Jesus, Darry, to the bathroom. Do I have to start asking you r permission now?" Pony asked in a snouty tone.

"After pulling a stunt like that Pony, then just maybe." Darry said dropping his arm so that Pony could get by. Darry watched from the doorway making sure that Pony was indeed heading for the bathroom. Pony made it clear on how he was feeling by closing the door a little harder than necessary. "What am I going to do with that kid?" Darry said forgetting that Johnny was still there.

"Darry, he's a good kid. He just thinks with his heart instead of his head sometimes, that's all." Darry spun around to see Johnny getting up off the boy's bed and started for the door.

"To bad in the real world thinking with your heart won't get you anywhere these days." Darry didn't mean to be rude to Johnny, but he just couldn't stand another second of someone trying to defend the ridiculous decision his little brother had just made. His thoughts quickly moved from Ponyboy to Sara. Darry poked his head into her room for he heard her music playing "I Get Around" by The Beach Boys, but no Sara, she must be out in the living room with the boys. Darry made his way back out to the living room as he passed the bathroom he noticed the door was still closed shut, but could hear running water, Pony must be taking a shower. Once Darry entered the living room he spotted Sara curled up in his chair watching and listening to all the stories of the fight. Her eyes were the size of saucers while she listen intently, great Darry clock on the wall read half passed eight. "Sara, 4 o'clock is going to come awfully early. Why don't you say your good-nights and get on into bed." Darry had now stepped up beside the chair and was speaking down to her.

"Is Ponyboy ok?" Sara took her attention away from the boys and was looking up to Darry in hopes to hear that he was.

"I think so. Now, let's go." Darry was holding out his hand for Sara to take ahold so that he could get her to bed. Sara placed her tiny hand into Darry's big one and let Darry pull her to her feet.

"Good night everyone." Sara announced to the room. A few mumbled good nights came back at Sara and she was satified with that and took off towards the hall. "What about brushing my teeth?" She turned around to ask Darry.

"I think they'll be fine tonight." Darry waved to keep her moving towards her bedroom. Once inside Sara's room she climbed right up and was settling down when Darry spotted her filthy feet. "Sara, how on earth did your feet get so dirty?" Darry had stopped her from getting into her clean bed.

"Um.. they got dirty from being outside with out any socks, or shoes on." Sara was now trying to hide her dirty feet.

Darry cocked his head to the side a bit and said, "but when you came out to get me you didn't even leave the grass."

"Yeah, well, I left the grass earlier before you got home."

"Sara Marie, tell me the whole strory." Darry was now pulling Sara up and out of bed to go wash her feet.

"I tried to come after you and Soda. I was trying to catch up to you, but Johnny wouldn't let me." Darry had marched Sara back out into the kitchen were he picked her up and placed her on the counter next to the sink.

"What are you doing Darry?" Sara asked looking concern.

"Washing your feet, what does it look like?"

"In the kitchen sink?" Sara had never heard of this before.

"Why not? The bathroom isn't avilable right now, and this will work just fine." Darry started filling the sink up with some warm water. "Johnny?" Darry called out.

"I'm right here." Johnny scurried from around the corner.

"Care to explain to me what you and my little sister were doing on the streets on Tulsa?" Darry started to scrub Sara's feet with dish detergent and water.

"I was stopping her, that's all Dar. She bolted out the door and down the street. She was in the middle of the road when a Red Covair came flying by. I caught her just in time." Johnny was looking back and forth from Darry to Sara.

"Sara, you know you're not to leave this yard unless one of us is with you. I swear between you and your brothers I am going to go nuts. No one around here ever listens!" Darry rinsed Sara's feet off with the facuet and tossed her the dish towel. He lifted her off of the counter and placed her in a chair at the table and said, "dry them off."

"What did I just hear you say, Dar?" Sodapop was placing Two-Bit's frozen bag of peas back into the freezer.

"Your little sister here thought that she would come rescue us and was running down the middle of the road with no shoes or socks on, when a car full of Socs decided to come along. Johnny here caught her just in time." Darry was shaking his head at Sara.

"I wanted to help you guys, that's all. I didn't have time to put socks and shoes on." Sara said in a soft voice.

"Jeez, Sara, it's not that you didn't have shoes or socks on. It's the fact that you left this yard, in the dark and without one of us with you. What do I have to do post everything on the walls for you guys to remember the rules?" Darry snapped the dish towel out of Sara's hands. "Now, get on to bed." Just as Darry was hollering orders to Sara, Ponyboy had walked into the kitchen. "You too! I've seen all of you that I want to see tonight." Darry's harsh words stung Ponyboy but good. He swiveled on his heels and was back in the hallway heading towards his room before Sara was even up and out of her chair.

"Oh, nice one, Dar. Like he isn't hurting enough." Sodapop was now pushing Sara towards the hall.

"That's going easy on him. That damn kid deserves a lot more, but tomorrow is going to be a long day without adding any more drama. I want you in bed in the next hour, Sodapop." Darry yelled after Soda and Sara disappeared down the hall.

Sodapop was putting Sara back into bed again when Sara reached her little hand up and placed it on a bruise that was starting to form on Soda's cheekbone. "It's ok, Sara. It doesn't even hurt that much." Soda tried to reassure Sara.

"Are you sure?" Sara asked pulling her hand away.

"Absoutley, positively." Soda cracked a smile.

"Why did you go, Soda?" Sara had asked this question so many times tonight and no one would give her a straight answer.

Soda let out a sigh and looked down at his precious sister. "I needed to go get Ponyboy, that's why." Soda knew it wasn't a very good answer but he couldn't tell her the real truth.

"But, why did Pony go? Darry made it clear that none of us were to go anywhere near there. You all told him this morning you wouldn't. I heard you both." Soda wished that sometimes he sister wouldn't be such a sponge. She absorbed everything that see heard and saw and sometimes it was to much, like now.

"I don't know why Pony went, but we are a family right?" Sara shook her head up and down. "Well, families stick together. So Darry went after Pony first, and then I went after Darry and Pony. Because that's what families do. Just like you tried to come after us, right?" Soda gave a look of disapproval to Sara when he said the last part.

"I guess you're right." Sara laid her head down on her pillow.

"I know I am." Soda said letting out a small, soft laugh. "Now, little lady, 4 am is going to come awful early, so close those eyes of your's and rest your weary head. I'll see you bright and early in the morning. You want to know something?" Sara shook her head vigerously up and down. "You're going to be up before the sun is even up. Can you believe that?" Soda was reaching over toward her radio.

"I am going to see my first sun rise?" Sara questioned.

"Yup. I bet you and Pony will both really like it."

"Please leave the music on for just a little longer?" Sara pleaded with Soda as he was switching it off.

"Oh, ok. But I am pretty sure that Darry is getting pretty tired of coming in here almost every night to turn it off." Soda joked with his sister.

"He hasn't said anything to me about it." Sara sassed back.

"Watch it. He hears you say that, you'll never be able to have it on." Soda warned but still had a smile on his face. "Get some sleep there little one."

As Soda was shutting her door he heard her little voice carry over to him, "Love you." She said.

"Love you too." Soda said before closing the door completely. Soda moved back into the living room where Dally and Steve had made themselves comfortable, one on the couch and one in Darry's chair, Two-Bit and Johnny were on the floor. Darry was coming up behind Soda was some blankets and pillow.

"Here guys. I can see you're already making yourselves all comfortable, but we need to get up early so I am heading to bed. I just ask that you keep it down out here." Darry was tossing Dally, Two-Bit and Johnny a blanket and threw the two extra pillows on the floor. "You guys can fight over these. Sorry we don't have extras." Two-Bit and Dally grabbed the pillows first, but then Dally tossed the pillow over to Johnny.

"Thanks, Dal." Johnny said a little embarrassed, but thankful for the extra support seeing he would be sleeping on the floor.

"No problem, Kid." Dally said kicking off his shoes.

"Everyone take it easy." Sodapop said to the group.

"Sleep tight everyone. We'll try to not wake ya all up in the morning." Darry said before heading back to his bedroom.

"Night Dar." The boys said back. Sodapop followed Darry back to the hall.

"Are you heading to bed?" Darry asked Sodapop.

"Yeah, but I think I am going to jump in the shower first."

"Ok. I'll see you in the morning. Get a good night's sleep little buddy." Darry slapped Soda's back.

"You too." Soda quitely opened his door not sure if Pony was sleeping or not. When he opened the door Soda's eyes glanced over to the bed, there Pony was not sleeping but was reading.

"Dar, wants lights out, Pony. You've got a big day tomorrow." Soda shut their door and had moved over to his dresser and was pulling out a clean t-shirt and a pair of boxer's.

"I'm just going to finish this chapter. I'll probably be done before you're back." Pony didn't even make eye contact with Soda they were to glued to the book he was reading instead.

"Ok." Soda said heading to the bathroom. Soda was back in 10- 15 minutes and was quiet entering into the boy's room. Pony did have the light turned out and was laying on his right side facing the window. Soda carefully got into bed not wanting to awake Pony, but once he got settled he soon realized that Pony wasn't sleeping after all. Soda had flung his arm over Pony's mid section when he heard a wince.

"Pony, are you ok?" Soda sat up to look at Pony.

"Yeah." Pony managed to say.

"Are you lying to me?" Soda could tell by the tone in Pony's voice that something wasn't right. "Pony?" Soda pressed again.

"My left side just hurts a bit. It'll be fine in the morning." Pony tried to cover up.

"I hope you're right there kiddo." Soda said lying back down in a slow motion not to jostle the bed to much. "Try to get some rest, you'll need it for tomorrow."

"Night Sodapop." Pony said to Soda.

Soda tossled the back of Pony's head "Good night Kiddo." Soda must of laid there for what seemed like hours worrying about his little brother, not sure if he believed him or not.


	7. Chapter 7

Chapter 7

When Darry's alarm went off he couldn't believe that it was time to get up already. He quickly rolled over to slam the clock but instantly felt every muscle in his body cry out to just lie back down. Darry was defiantly feeling the side effects of participating in the rumble last night. As he was shutting the annoying ringing off Darry's thoughts automatically turned to Pony. He was still pissed off with him from the stunt that he had pulled with sneaking off to the rumble, but he was feeling a little pang of guilt as well. Darry was so irate with him that he didn't even really acknowledge if he was seriously hurt or not. But then again if he was, he would of probably of mentioned something to Sodapop and Soda would of come and gotten him. Darry slowly pulled his achy body up off the bed. He caught a glimpse of the silvery moon still shining bright outside his window; gosh it was early he thought. He opened his door and moved his way through the quiet house and towards the bathroom. He entered and closed the door behind him. He turned the shower on to warm up a little. Even though it was a warm morning he needed to have a hot shower in hopes to loosen up his tight muscles for it was going to be a long ride and probably the stress of driving there with the kids would cause them to tighten right back up again. Darry had just stepped into the shower and was closing the curtain when he heard the bathroom door open.

"I'm in here." Darry hollered out to whoever it was that had entered.

"Jeez, Dar. Don't you know that it is only 3:30 in the morning?" Two-Bit mumbled while he lifted up the toilet seat to take a wiz.

"Yeah, I'm well aware of that Two-Bit. But in order to make it to Oklahoma City by 9:00 we need to be leaving here in about 30 minutes or so." Darry was just letting the hot water run down his back.

"Sucks to be you." Two-Bit said flushing the toilet.

"Hey!" Darry yelled out as the hot water turned to cold. "You couldn't have waited to do that until I was out?" Darry said jumping out of the way of the cold water. "I'll get you Two-Bit!" But Darry's threat didn't reach Two-Bit's ear for he had already made his way back to his make shift bed on the Curtis' living room floor. The water started to warm up again and Darry stepped back into it and just stood there and enjoyed the relief it was bringing, but he knew he couldn't stand there much longer for he had to try to get his three younger siblings up and at them, this was going to be fun he thought. He couldn't even get them up on a school morning, now he was asking them to get up 2 hours earlier. He finally reached over and turned the water off and stepped out and grabbed his towel. He was drying himself off when he heard the door start to squeak open. "I'm in here." Darry announced to the intruder.

"It's just me, Darry." Soda said pushing the door open while Darry wrapped the towel around his waist.

"You're up already? I didn't know you were setting an alarm too?" Soda walked over and turned the shower on.

"I didn't. But I heard someone get up and then heard the talking and the shower. I figured if the shower was running it must be time to get up." Soda was rubbing the sleep away from his eyes while waiting for Darry to exit so he could use the toilet and get into the shower.

"Good, one down, only two to go." Darry said slipping out of the door so that Soda could have some privacy. Darry pattered back down the hall to his room to slip some clean clothes on. Once he was dressed he came back into the kitchen and started on coffee. He also started to throw a bag of snacks and things together so that they wouldn't have to make so many stops on the way there. As he was gathering things together Soda came out just in a pair of boxers and dripping hair.

"Dar, I think I need to tell you something," Soda said in a hush tone not to wake the boys in the living room.

Darry slowly turned around to see what his brother was going to say. He cocked his eye brow in curiosity. "What is it little buddy?"

Soda chewed at his lower lip a little before starting the conversation that he probably should have had late last night with his big brother. "Well, I just think that this might be a waste of our time today." Soda said looking his big brother right in the eyes.

"Yeah? And why would you think that, Sodapop?" Darry had stopped moving around the kitchen and had his full attention on his brother.

"Last night when we were getting ready for bed, I pulled Ponyboy into me and he winced. I think he might be hurt, Dar. He didn't sleep very well last night. He tossed and turned all night like he couldn't get comfortable. Every time I asked him if there was something wrong he would just downplay it. Saying he was fine. That he would be fine in the morning. That he just needed some sleep, but I don't think he got much, Dar." Soda paused for a minute thinking before speaking again. "I don't think he can do it, Dar." Darry was standing there listening to his worst fear being unleashed. He could start to feel his blood boiling. This is exactly why he didn't want Ponyboy anywhere near that rumble last night. Darry couldn't even get his thoughts straight but his mouth was already rambling.

"What? Why didn't you come and tell me this last night, Sodapop? Telling me now, does us no good. I could have given him something last night to help with the pain or something." Darry started pacing around the kitchen just picking things up and placing them back down again in a different spot. "Do I dare even ask what is bothering him?" Darry was thinking his leg or his ankle or something on his lower part of his body.

"I'm not sure. He kept telling me nothing, but I think he might have some bruised ribs, because of the tossing and turning and the wincing." Sodapop knew that this type of injury could be just as bad as if it was his leg or ankle. Darry was shaking his head now.

"I knew something like this was going to happen. That kid just doesn't use his head anymore. Ever since the accident he has been so absent…." Darry stopped himself before saying something he might regret later. "Let's go wake him up and try to figure out what is going on." Darry walked down the hall towards the boy's room. He pushed the door open when he got there and stepped in. There in the dark curled up in a ball laid Pony. He seemed to be out like a light right then. Darry paused in the doorway. He turned to see that Sodapop had followed. Darry tapped the door frame with his hands. "Rise and shine." Hesaid still strumming on the door frame hoping that the noise would wake Ponyboy up, instead they heard a voice hollering from the living room.

"Christ Sakes, would you stop that drumming!" Soda and Darry looked down the hall towards the living room.

"Sorry, Dal." Darry hollered back. As Darry turned from the hallway back into the boy's room he noticed that Sodapop had slipped into the room and was sitting down on Pony's side of the bed where he was shaking him a bit.

"Pony? Pony? We need to be leaving here soon. You need to get up." Soda was using a very low, soft tone with Pony.

"Huh?" Pony was slowly opening his eyes. Darry had now moved further into the room and was almost at the end of the bed looking down at the two boys.

"Ponyboy, you need to get up and get ready. We have a long drive ahead of us. You can sleep in the car if you're still tired, but we need to get a move on, if you're feeling up to it." Darry was hoping that by throwing that last part in that he would get something out of Pony.

"Of course I feel like it." Pony was quick to answer back to Darry.

"I think what Darry is trying to ask is how are you feeling this morning?" Soda said pulling the covers off of Pony, but Pony was trying to pull them back up around him.

"I'm fine!" He said a little too harshly.

"Really?" Soda still wasn't buying it.

"Yes." Pony hissed.

"Good, then get up." Darry wasn't going to stand there and waste time debating with Pony when there was another Curtis member that he needed to get up.

"That's it?" Soda turned to look at Darry, hoping that Darry would press this issue a little more.

Darry stopped at the door and stiffen a little. "What do you mean, is that it? He says he's fine. He wants to run, then we'll take him to run." Soda looked from Darry back to Pony hoping that Pony would say something but there was dead silence between the three.

"Whatever." Soda said while getting up and heading toward his dresser to finish getting ready.

"I'm going to get Sara." Darry stated to the boys and then left the room and headed for Sara's room. Sodapop was opening his dresser drawer looking for a clean t-shirt when out of the corner of his eye he noticed that Pony was struggling to get up outta bed.

"Ha!" He swirled around and glared at Pony. "I knew it! You are hurt, you little weasel!"

"It's nothing, Soda. I'm just stiff from sleeping wrong." Pony was taking a long time pulling himself up from their bed.

"Yeah right! Pony, you might think that you can get away with it with Darry, but it's not going to work with me. I know you better than that. I know that something is wrong. It's your ribs isn't? That is why you couldn't get comfortable and sleep last night." Soda had completely caught Pony off guard. Pony had finally pulled himself up and was slowly walking towards Soda.

"Soda, I'm fine. Just stiff, once we get there and I get loosen up and stretched and stuff I'll be fine. Honest." Pony walked over and placed his hand on Sodapop's shoulder. "Soda, honest, I'm fine. Stop worrying so." Soda just looked into his brother's tired face, he still wasn't buying it, but he also knew that Pony was to stubborn to admit any different.

"Then I would suggest you get your butt in gear and get ready there Ace." Soda gave Pony a swift kick in the butt on his way out the door.

"What was that for?" Pony turned with surprise on his face.

"Just checking." Soda said with a chuckle. Soda made his way down the hall knowing that Sara was probably giving Darry a fight about having to get up, and when he got to her door he could hear Darry's voice starting to rise.

"Sara, you need to get up. This is why you should have gone to bed earlier. We tried to warn you, but do you ever listen?" Soda watched Darry pulling out clothes from her dresser and slamming the drawers shut, but Sara still wasn't moving.

"Darry, why don't you go finish getting everything together, I'll get her up." Soda walked into the room and Darry tossed him Sara's clothes.

"Good luck! I want everyone ready to go in 15 minutes! We need to get onto I- 44 by 4:30." Darry took one more look at the small figure that was still not getting up outta her bed.

"You and your schedules, Darry. I swear I've never known someone so organized at you." Soda was laughed as he moved closer to Sara.

"Someone has to be." Darry's words lingered in the room as he retreated back out to the kitchen to get things finalized.

Soda sat down on the side of Sara's bed and was slowly digging through the blankets and pillows to try to find her face. "Sara, honey, you need to get up if you're coming with us?" Sodapop finally found her head and was pulling the covers down. "Come on, Sara. You can sleep on the way there. All I need is for you to get up and get dress and walk out to the car." Soda was now pushing her hair away from her face. "Sara, Darry will leave you hear with Dally and Two-Bit if you don't get a move on." Soda hated to threaten but knew he needed some ammo to try to get her up this early. It was kind of working, for she started to move around. "That's a girl. I have your clothes right here. I'll even help you." Sara now had opened her big blue eyes and was looking at Soda. "Morning, beautiful." Soda said with a smile.

"Morning, Soda." Sara said through a big yawn, pushing herself up. Sodapop was pulling at the top of her pj's to get it off. Sara was half helping still feeling very sleepy. Soda handed her a clean shirt to put on. Sara fumbled her arms through it and managed to get it on.

"Here." Soda said handing Sara a pair of shorts. "I gotta brush my teeth, when I get back I am hoping to see you all dressed and ready to go." Soda was getting up off her bed when Darry walked back in.

"Sara, here's a bag, pack some things that will help keep yourself entertained while in the car." Sara was now climbing down off of her bed and pattered over to Darry and took the bag from him. "Finish getting dressed and brush those teeth and be out in the living room in 5 minutes." Darry was moving back towards his room. Sara finished getting ready and looked at her bookcase. She didn't really know what to bring. She threw some books in the bag, her sketch pad and some crayons, her Barbie and a deck of cards. As she started to head out her door she turned and ran back to her bed. There she grabbed her pillow and her favorite blanket and her teddy bear, that should do she thought. She shuffled off towards the bathroom where Sodapop was still standing in front of the mirror fixing his hair. Soda was putting the hair grease down when he spotted Sara coming through the door with her hands full.

"What do you plan on moving to Oklahoma City or something?" Soda joked with her, but came over and helped take some things from her hands so that she could brush her hair and teeth.

"Darry said to bring some stuff." Sara tried to defend herself.

"I don't think he meant to bring your whole bed though." Soda couldn't resist harassing his little sister, but when he noticed her starting to tear up a little he felt bad. "Sara, I'm just kidding with you. It's ok. If this is what you want to bring, it's fine." Sara rubbed the tears out of her eyes and took the brush and ran it through her hair. Soda stood in the doorway for a second and watched her. "You know Sara, I am going to grab my pillow too. It was a good idea." This comment by Soda made a smile tug at Sara's mouth. Soda flashed her a smile and walked into his room and grabbed his own pillow and moved out to the kitchen where he interrupted a conversation Darry and Pony were having.

"I want you to try to get some rest on the way there. You look terrible. Did you get enough sleep last night? Soda said you tossed and turned a lot. Do you feel ready for this?" Darry was instructing Pony.

"Stop worrying, Dar. I will probably fall back to sleep before we are even out of the city limits, that is if Sara let's me." Pony was sipping on some chocolate milk.

"I don't think you have to worry about Sara." The two looked over to see Soda standing with all her stuff in his hands.

"What's all that?" Darry asked with a puzzled look on his face.

"You told her to bring some stuff.. well, this is her stuff. Now that I think about it, she had some good ideas. So I went and grabbed my pillow too. Pony, you should grab yours. I'm going to go load this up in Steve's car." Soda started for the living room where he noticed that the gang was still all there. He was quietly trying to open the front door without disturbing any, but it was to late.

"Jesus, would you guys just get outta here, so the rest of us can get some sleep?" Dally was shifting in Darry's chair.

"Hey, Dal, now that we are up and almost outta here why don't you go use a bed. There's three open now." Soda said on the way out.

"You don't have to offer twice." Dally was staggering back into the kitchen where Darry was still going at it with Pony. "Darry, lay off man. How's he going to do good if you're already hounding at him, and it's only 4 o'clock in the morning. I'm sure the hell glad I'm not going with you all. You'd drive me crazy by the time we even got there." Dally took a swig of chocolate milk from the cartoon and placed it back on the table. "Good luck today, kid." Dally slapped Pony's shoulder and was moving towards the back of the house.

"Morning, Dally." Sara said coming out of the bathroom.

"Hey, little Curtis. Don't get lost in that big city." Dally ruffled Sara's hair and crashed onto Soda and Pony's bed. Sara moved out to the kitchen.

"Morning." Her voice rang through the kitchen.

"Are you ready?" Darry asked her as he was moving into the living room to hand Sodapop another bag to take out.

"Yup." She was grabbing the chocolate milk but Pony quickly took over so that there wasn't a mess to clean up. "Thanks, Pon." Sara said taking the cup from him.

"You're welcome." Pony said getting up, but as he rose to his feet he winced and let out a whine. "Ahh." He instantly grabbed at his left side.

"Pony, are you ok? What's wrong?" Sara asked with concern for her brother, noticing that he was in some pain.

"Oh, just a cramp." Pony tried to cover it up, but still was clutching his left side with his hand and was breathing a little heavily. He slowly tried to rise before Darry and Soda came back. He turned to look at Sara and gave her a stern look. "Don't you dare say a word to Darry or Soda, got it?" Sara didn't know what to do or say, but she knew that it wasn't right. "Got it?" Pony said with some anger in his voice. Sara shook her head up and down but didn't say anything.

"Ok, guys, let's get a move on. The road is a waiting." Darry came back into the kitchen with keys in hand. "Sara, go use the bathroom before we leave. I'm not stopping every half hour. We'll stop for breakfast around 6:30ish 7:00. Maybe around Oakhurst." Darry was pushing Sara towards the bathroom, while Pony was getting his track bag and his pillow.

"I already went Darry, I don't need to go again." Sara complained to Darry while he was escorting her to the bathroom.

"I want you to try again." Sara stopped at the door and didn't enter. "Just try, Sara." He didn't want to start their long ride like this with her. "Please, just try." He gave her a pleading look. Sara let out a sigh.

"Ok. I'll try, but I don't need to go."

"Amuse me." Darry closed the bathroom door and waited outside of it. Not 30 seconds later Sara was opening the door, Darry looked down at her.

"I tried, honest, I did." Darry warned her again. "I'm serious, Sara. I'm not stopping every half hour; you'll have to hold it."

"I will." Sara moved back out to the kitchen where Pony was waiting with Sodapop.

"Ok, it's now or never." Darry said to his three siblings. "Everyone got everything they need and want? Last chance." None of the Curtis siblings said much so Darry took that as a "yes". Soda led the group towards the door. Once they started moving through the living room Darry stop to look at the three remaining boys in his living room. "Boys if this house is trashed when we get back I am going to have your hides." Darry didn't really care if he woke them or not, but he felt like he needed to give them the warning.

"Ok, Dar. We got it." Two-Bit answered for the group.

"Good luck, Pony!" Johnny lifted his head up to wish his buddy a good bye.

"Thanks, Johnny. I'll see you when I get back." Soda pushed Pony and Sara out the door.

"Bye, guys. Stay outta trouble." Darry final words were said to the group before closing the door behind them. The four Curtis members moved slowly to Steve's car. Darry moved to the driver's side while Sodapop opened the passenger's side and opened the back door for Sara to climb in. Everyone quietly climbed on in and got settled into their spots. Darry put the key in the ignition and turned it. The car started right up. The radio started blaring "Downtown" by Petula Clark. Darry immediately turned it off.

"Oh, come on, Dar. It's going to be a long ride. We need the radio on." Soda whined.

"Please, Darry?" Sara's tiny voice was heard from the backseat. Darry glanced up in the rear view mirror where he saw her pleading looking.

"Ok, but I control the volume." He said to Soda.

"Fair enough." Soda said getting comfortable for the ride ahead.


	8. Chapter 8

Chapter 8

"Wow, that didn't take too long." Darry said to Sodapop while looking in the rear view mirror. Sara was curled up on the seat with her head resting on the her pillow that was wedge up against the door and the seat. Right across the seat on the other side Pony was sleeping too.

"I'm glad that he's getting some rest." Soda said to Darry while turning back around from looking back at his two younger siblings.

"Yeah, me too." Darry replied while keeping his eyes on the road. Soda noticed Darry trying to stretch out his neck and shoulders.

"You know, Darry. I can do some of the driving too. You don't need to be doing it all." Soda offered up. "It's pretty much straight driving until we get to Oklahoma City limits. You can take over right before we get there." Darry glanced over towards Sodapop and gave a little chuckle.

"No offense, Sodapop, but your driving, well, let's just say that I want to make it there without any incidents. Maybe on the way back?"

"What are you saying, Darry? You don't like my driving?" Soda said chuckling.

"No, it's just I know that you can tend to have a lead foot, and it's easy to do that out here on the highway. I appreciate the offer, I do, but I think I can handle it." Darry just smiled over at Soda who was leaning over to switch the radio station and was turning up the volume a little. The Curtis family road in silence for a few miles before Soda brought up what was weighing on his mind.

"Are you nervous?" Soda's question caught Darry by surprise.

"What do you mean?" Darry asked not sure what Soda meant.

"Are you nervous for Pony? I remember how nervous Mom would get for your big games and stuff. I think I am kinda feeling that way for him now. I mean, I'm so proud that he even made it this far, I just want to see him do good." Soda was kicking his shoes off and was starting to stretch out a bit.

Darry just shrugged his shoulders and didn't say anything for a few seconds. "I guess I am a little, but he is still young and will have plenty of opportunities to perform if he doesn't do well today. It's not like he is a senior or anything and it's his last chance." Darry paused as he leaned over and turned down the volume that Soda moments ago had turned up.

"Mom and Dad would be so proud of him. Dad, especially, he was always the happiest when he was watching you play football, Dar. That 's one regret that I have." Soda said with sadness in his voice. "I wish I would have followed through with playing baseball. I think it broke Dad's heart when I gave it up." Soda stopped and took a deep sigh.

"Why, did you give it?" Darry had never really talked about this with Sodapop before. Soda had a god given natural talent for baseball but one day he just up and decided to stop.

"I don't know. Maybe because it was getting boring, or that Steve wasn't playing anymore, plus I was starting to get interested in cars and girls I guess. I'll never forget the look of disappointment on Dad's face when I told him that I had quit the team. I think the look will be permanently burned into my brain. But I figured he still had you to watch. I just feel terrible about it now." Soda was watching the darkness of the night turn into oranges and reds.

"He was never disappointed in you Sodapop; you've got to know that." Darry said with nothing but sincerity in his voice.

"Yeah, I guess we'll never really know that, now will we?" Soda said with some disbelief.

"Soda, just because we didn't always do things that Mom and Dad wanted us to, it doesn't mean that they went to their graves mad, or disappointed or upset with the choices that we had made. It's not like that. I know for a fact how much Dad admired your talent for fixing engines and cars; you didn't need to be a super star to make him love you. He loved all of us no matter what path we decided to take. I know how badly he wanted for me to go to the University to play football, but I know he isn't looking down at me being disappointed. He's probably just as proud of me for trying to take care of you three, rather than playing football." Darry took his eyes off the road for a spilt second to try to see the expression on Soda's face. Sodapop was still looking out the window.

"I should wake Sara up."

"Why the hell would you do that for? I thought it was kinda nice driving like this." Darry laughed at his own comment.

"I told her last night that she would be able to see her first sun rise." Soda finally took his eyes away from the window and looked over his shoulder again at his sleeping siblings.

"I think she will live without you waking her to see one." Darry was surely hoping that Sodapop wouldn't wake her. "Remember Soda, it's going to be a long day, and if you wake her, then it will make it even longer." Darry warned.

Soda sat there thinking about it for a second or two. "Yeah, I guess you're right. She will have plenty of time to see her first sunrise." Soda wanted to quickly change the subject. "Are we ready for her birthday? I picked up some cards the other day when I was at the drugstore. I'm going to make her a cake. Are you going shopping tomorrow? If so could you pick up the ice cream? Will you be home early Thursday night for her dinner? She will drive me crazy if you're not." Soda said smiling.

"Yeah, I already talked with my boss. He told me I could leave a half hour early. So I should be home by 5:00. Have you mention anything to the guys about coming over for dinner and cake?"

"Not yet, but I will. I am surprised she hasn't been talking it about it more. I mean a few weeks ago she was talking about it nonstop but I haven't really heard her mention it, have you?" Soda had dug out a banana from the bag of snacks that Darry had packed.

"Not really. She has been pretty quiet about it. I am just hoping that Mrs. Roberts doesn't try to pull anything this week. I just can't even imagine something happening before her birthday, she will never get over it." Darry had lowered his voice just in case the two in the back were playing possum.

"That has been in the back of my mind too. But other than last night, things have been pretty good, wouldn't you agree?"

"Yes, but who the hell knows what Mrs. Roberts thinks." Darry added.

"That's true." The silence fell between the two boys again and they drove for a few more miles before Darry could hear some heavy breathing. Darry turned towards the passenger's seat where he found a sleeping Sodapop, now all three of his siblings were asleep, Darry couldn't be any more happier, for he took a glance at his watch, quarter past 5. He was wondering how much longer he would be able to enjoy the peaceful sound of the radio and the hum of the wheels. It was just them and the highway.

Darry was needing another cup of coffee and could also use a pee break. He was feeling a little bad for being so hard on Sara for not stopping every half hour and they had already been in the car for two hours now and she was still sleeping and hadn't even asked to stop yet. He was also starting to feel his stomach growling and knew that they should be stopping soon. It was another 20 miles until Oakhurst where he had plan on stopping at Betsy's Diner. Darry had been dreading this long ride all week, but so far everything had gone smoothly. He continued driving when he had only gone about 10 miles before hearing the soft, tiny voice from the backseat. "Darry, I have to go pee and I am hungry." Darry looked in the rear view mirror and Sara was now sitting up and was wiggling back and forth on the seat.

"We're almost to Betsy's Diner. It's just another 10 miles or so. Do you think you can hold it?" Darry knew by the way she was wiggling back and forth that she probably wasn't going to make it. When Darry glanced at her again he could see that the expression on her face said it all.

"I'll try, Dar. How much longer will it take?"

"10-15 minutes. Try looking at a book or something to help distract you from needing to go." Darry tried to give her some advice.

"Ok." Sara started fumbling with her bag to open it; Darry sure hoped that she would make it for he forgot to pack her an extra change of clothes. Darry try to go a little faster when he noticed that he was now doing 10 over the speed limit, but was taking this risk for his sister's sake. Sara was only quiet for a few more minutes before the whining started in again. "Darry, I don't think I can hold it any longer."

"We're almost there. Just a little longer. Just keep looking at your books or something."

"It's not working! Darry, I need to go, now!" Sara was now standing up between the front seat and the back.

"Sara Marie, you need to sit back down." Darry hollered, forgetting that his two brothers were still sleeping.

"Darry, please, pull over." Sara was begging now. Darry looked over at the side of the road where there was a ditch and a field. He didn't like doing this for he felt that Sara was to old for this nonsense but he didn't want to have her sitting in wet shorts either, so he slowed down and pulled over.

"Ok Sara, open your door and go right in the ditch." Sara quickly flew open her door and jumped out and moved into the ditch where she pulled her pants down and relieved herself. With all of the commotion both boys had woken up.

"Why did we stop?" Soda asked opening his eyes.

"Sara." Darry motioned his head to the ditch.

"Well, at least she made it longer than you thought she would." Soda tried to defend his sister.

"True, but we are only 10 minutes away from the diner. I was hoping that she would have made it there, but I guess not." Just as Darry was finishing his sentence Sara was climbing back out of the ditch and into the car.

"Thanks, Darry." Sara was grateful that Darry had decided to pull over.

"You're going before we leave the diner you hear me?" Darry warned as Sara settled back in before pulling back out onto the highway.

"Where are we?" Darry heard Pony's voice.

"We're just outside Oakhurst. We'll be stopping in a few minutes for breakfast. Are you guys' hungry?"

"Starving!" Pony said wincing a bit while pulling himself up from his position he was laying in. Sara noticed and gave Pony a look of concern.

"Pony, are you ok?" Sara whispered. Pony just glared at her trying to shut her up, but Soda had heard and turned to look at his younger brother.

"Pony?" Soda asked with concern in his voice.

"What's going on with you three?" Darry had just caught onto the conversation.

"Nothing, I'm just stiff and need to get out of this car for a bit to stretch. That's all." Pony said looking at Soda.

"We're stopping right up here, so everyone will get a chance to stretch their legs some. I know I could use it too." Darry had now slowed back down to the speed limit.

"I don't know about you guys but I feel like a big stack of pancakes." Soda said almost tasting them.

"Me too." Sara chimed in. Darry could see the diner and gas station up ahead on the right as he slowed down and pulled into the pretty full parking lot.

"Let's go in. We're still on a schedule so we don't have to much time to waste." Darry said getting out of the car. Sara and Sodapop were pretty quick at getting out but the three noticed that Pony was still taking his time getting out of the car. Darry quicken his step and moved back to Pony's door.

"I think you might be more than just a little stiff, don't you? Don't you think it is time to tell me what's really going on?" Darry had his hand on the door waiting for Pony to get out.

"I'm just a little sore, Dar. After my stretching and warm up I'll be fine, you'll see." Pony managed to get himself up and was carefully moving towards Soda and Sara. The four walked into the small diner and waited for the waitress to come over and take them to a booth that was up against the window.

"Good Morning. How are we doing this morning? Can I get you some drinks while you look over the menu?"

"Black coffee." Darry said looking at the menu. The waitress turned towards Soda.

"Chocolate milk." Sodapop said was a smile.

"Me too." Pony added. Sara was the only one left that hadn't ordered anything.

The waitress was waiting for an answer from Sara but she hadn't yet decided. The waitress finally was getting tired of waiting and turned to Darry an asked, "What will your daughter be having?"

"My sister" Darry was quick to correct, "And she'll have a chocolate milk as well."

"No, orange juice." Sara said. The waitress looked back towards Darry for confirmation.

"Orange juice, for her." Darry said to the waitress. The waitress left and returned a few minutes later with their drinks and to take their order. Everyone ordered pancakes which made it easy for the waitress. The four made small talk about the remaining ride there, the different folks that were also in the diner and about how good the food was. It didn't take long for the three boys to devour their pancakes but of course Sara was slowing eating hers. Darry was getting a little impatient with her and he started picking at her plate. "Sara, it's going to be awhile before we eat again, so I suggest you eat up." But Darry's threats and warning didn't really change Sara's speed in eating. When the waitress came back over she asked if there was anything else they needed and when Darry said, "No." She handed him the check and Darry started fishing out his wallet. "Sodapop, take Sara to the bathroom, while I pay the check."

"Why me? Why can't you take her seeing everyone thinks you're her dad anyways?" Soda questioned Darry's request.

"Unless you want to pay for the check, than I will gladly take her." Soda glanced down at the bill, it was $8.65.

"Nah, I'll take her." Soda looked across the table at Sara and motioned for her to follow. Sara was pushing at Darry so he would get up and she could get out. Darry slowly got up and walked towards the cashier. Soda reached for Sara's hand and pulled her towards the restrooms. Pony was thankful that everyone left so they wouldn't notice him struggling to get up out of the booth, and it did take him a little time to get up but no one seemed to notice. Once he was up Darry was finishing up at the register when he started heading towards the bathroom too. Pony managed to make it over to the restroom without any trouble and when they got there, Soda was leaning against the wall still waiting for Sara.

"She's still not out?" Darry questioned stopping in front of the women's door.

"No, I'm about ready to holler in there." Soda said while fidgeting with the payphone that was beside him.

"Give her one more minute, then do it." Darry instructed Soda then pushed open the door to the men's room. As Soda was standing there a young lady walked up to the door. She was a pretty little thing, with dirty blonde hair and green eyes. She stopped and looked at Soda and smile.

"Are you lost?" She asked standing in front of the women's bathroom door.

"No, not really. Just waiting for my little sister." Sodapop pointed towards the door.

"Oh, I see. Would you like me to see what's taking her so long?" She smiled again at Soda.

"Thanks, for I was just about ready to go in there myself."

"Well, we wouldn't want you to get into any trouble by doing that. Let me see what's she up too." She started to push the door open when she stopped and turned to Soda, "What's her name?"

"Sara." Soda said.

"And you are?"

"Sodapop."

The young lady let out a soft giggle. "Really?" She asked.

"Yes, ma'am." The young lady still giggling pushed open the door where she found a young auburn haired girl trying to reach the faucet at the sink.

"Are you Sara?" She asked. Sara shook her head up and down not sure if she should be talking to a stranger. "Your brother, Sodapop is waiting for you outside. He wants to know if you're ready." Sara looked up at the young lady.

"I can't reach the faucet to wash my hands. I need to wash my hands." The young lady moved over to the faucet and turned it on for Sara. She then turned back and opened the door.

"She's just washing her hands, she'll be right out." By this time all three Curtis boys were standing there waiting for Sara.

"Jesus, since when does it take this long?" Darry was cursing under his breath.

"Go ahead, Darry, I'll wait here for her." Soda said with a grin from ear to ear.

"You two best be out in that car in 5 minutes." Darry said pushing Ponyboy towards the door to the diner. Just as Ponyboy and Darry were rounding the corner the women's door opened again and Sara appeared with dripping hands, the minuts she looked at Sodapop she knew she needed to start explaining herself.

"I couldn't reach the faucet, Soda, please don't look at me like that. I was trying, honest! Don't be mad." Sara had moved over and was leaning into Soda hoping that he would hug her to reassure her that he wasn't mad. Soda noticed the pretty little lady still looking at the two.

"Thank you for your help. Have a nice day." Soda gave Sara a quick hug and started to move her towards the front of the diner.

"She 's very lucky to have such a nice brother as you, Sodapop. I am glad that I could help. Have a safe travel." With that the pretty girl slipped back into the women's bathroom.

"Come on, Sara, Darry and Pony are waiting for us." Soda guided Sara out through the crowded diner and through the parking lot. He noticed that Darry had just finished at the gas pump and was paying the attendant. "Get in." Soda had opened her door and was waiting for her to climb in, once she was settled he closed the door and jumped into the front with Darry.

"Ready?" Darry asked everyone.

"Yup." The three Curtis siblings answered in unison.

"Oklahoma City, 100 miles." Darry announced to the car load.

"Great." Pony said sarcastically.

"We should make it there by 8:30 if there aren't any more stops." Darry said glancing over his shoulder at Sara.

"What?" She said back to him.

"You know." Darry said putting his eyes back on the road.

The group was a lot livelier the second half of the trip than it was the first part. Soda and Sara were signing at the top of their lungs at times until Darry told them to knock it off. Pony was being a lot quieter than normal, but Darry just figured that was because he was trying to get focus for his events. They had been driving for about an hour before Sara started in again. "Are we almost there? I am getting bored."

"Sara, we warned you ahead of time that this was going to be a long trip. We prepared you and told you that if you couldn't handle it you could have stayed at home. But you said you wouldn't, so no were not almost there. Sit back down and look at the window, see if you can spot a cow or something."

"I don't want to play that stupid game." Sara sassed back at her big brother.

"Fine, but I don't want to hear any more whining about if we are there yet." Sara pushed herself back against the seat and crossed her arms, pouting a bit.

"Pony, will you play Go Fish with me?" Sara asked a minute after she was done pouting.

"No" Pony answered firmly.

"Please?" Sara asked again.

"I don't want to play, Sara."

"Pretty please?" Sara continued to beg.

"No." Pony answered with frustration in his voice.

"Pretty please, with a cherry on top?" At this point Sara was trying to be annoying more than anything else.

"Darry, make her stop." Pony cried out from the backseat.

"Sara, knock it off, he doesn't want to play." Darry shouted from the front.

"I need someone to play with me, Soda?" Sara moved on to the next brother to annoy.

"Sara, we can't play if I am in the front and you're in the back."

"Then come in the back with me." Sara continued bugging her brother.

"No, I am staying in the front."

"It's not fair! No one will play with me. Darry, can you play with me?"

"And how do you expect for me to do that if I'm driving, Sara?"

"Let Sodapop drive."

"Yeah Darry, let me drive. It'll give me something to do." Soda was joining Sara in the game of ganging up on Darry.

"No, I'm not playing with you Sara, and no, Sodapop you're not driving." Both Soda and Sara let out a sigh. It was quiet for a minute until Sara spoke.

"How much longer?"

"SARA!" The boys all yelled at the same time.


	9. Chapter 9

Chapter 9

Darry pulled into the huge complex of the high school that was hosting this year's Oklahoma State Track and Field Meet. Darry couldn't believe the amount of buses and cars that had filled the parking lot. He had to drive many aisles down before finding a spot to park. Once he had the car parked he turned to everyone in the car. "Ok, we're here. The first thing we need to do is for Ponyboy to get checked in, then we'll have to find his coach, and then we'll find a place in the stands." Darry was picking up the bag of food and snacks to bring in with them. "Are you ready?" He was directing the question towards Pony.

"Ready as I'll ever be, I guess." Pony was reaching down for his track bag.

"Ok, then, let's get in there." Soda and Sara were quick to jump out of the car while Pony was still struggling to get out the door.

"Need a hand there Pony?" Darry was waiting for Pony by his door.

"Nope, I've got it." Pony said shutting the door behind him. The four walked through the parking lot and towards the entrance, when Darry approached the attendant at the gate he stopped Darry and Pony.

"Are you a participant?" The man asked.

"Yes." Darry answered for Pony.

"What school?" The man had a file of papers on his table.

This time Darry let Pony answer for himself. "Will Rogers High School, Tulsa." Pony said looking down at the papers the man was shuffling through.

"And you are?" The man seemed to have found the page.

"Ponyboy Curtis, Sir." The man looked up from his paper and gave Pony an odd look, but didn't say anything about his name.

Sodapop was standing holding Sara's hand and watching the man and Pony, as he was about to say something to Darry about what the problem was he felt Sara tugging on his shirt, he turned and looked over, "What?" he said down to Sara.

"I have to go to the bathroom." Sara whined.

"Of course you do." Soda said was sarcasm in his voice.

"Oh, here you are, Ponyboy Curtis, Will Rogers High School, Tulsa." The man was handing Ponyboy his number that he would be wearing and then stamped his hand with a red star. "Are you his family?" The man turned to Darry.

"Yes we are." Darry said stepping a little closer to Ponyboy.

"There's no fee for families of the athletes, but we'll still need to stamp your hands. Can I see your hand?" Darry thrust his hand forward and the man placed a green circle on Darry's hand. "Sodapop, Sara, come over here and get your hand stamped." Soda let go of Sara's hand and moved forward so the man could stamp it. "Sara, come over here." Darry scolded. Sara quickly moved closer to the man and let him place a green stamp on it.

"Darry, I have to go to the bathroom." Sara tried to get Darry's attention.

"Yeah, just a minute, Sara." Darry was trying to listen to the man who was giving Ponyboy instruction on where his first event would begin and a rough time of that event, but Sara was now tugging at Darry's shirt.

"Darry, I can't hold it any longer!" Sara's voice rose so that the man could hear her as well.

"Sir, the bathrooms are in by the concessions stands, down towards the middle of the stadium. There is another set at the far end as well." Ponyboy was picking up his bag and had his number in hand and was started to head towards the stadium.

"Thank you." Darry said to the man and started following Pony. "Sara we need to get Pony to his designated spot, and then we'll find a bathroom for you." Darry was trudging along after Pony. "Pony, do you know where you're going?" Darry couldn't believe the amount of people that were here; he had never been to this type of event before and was really surprised with the turn out. Darry was trying to keep up the best he could with Pony's long strides. "Ponyboy, slow down, would you." Darry called out after Pony. Pony finally stopped and could see that Darry was 20 feet behind him and that Soda was dragging Sara along even further back.

"I just want to get out there, Dar." Pony said

"I know you do, Kiddo, but we need to stay together. I had no idea there was going to be this many people here." Darry turned around to see where Sodapop and Sara were at. He noticed that Soda was trying to pull Sara through the crowds of people.

Sodapop and Sara had finally made their way through the crowd and caught up to Darry and Pony. "Jeez, Pony, you going to a fire or something?" Soda gently pouched Pony's shoulder.

"Nah, I'm just antsy, that's all." Pony was a little embarrassed admitting that he was feeling a little uneasy about this now.

"Ah, you're gonna do fine, Pon." Soda threw his arm around Pony and gave him a slight hug. While Darry and Sodapop were trying to calm Pony down some Sara was looking around at all the people and the noises and the lines of concession stands that were all starting to send off their amazing smell of French fries, and popcorn and hotdogs and hamburgers. As Sara's eyes wandered from concession to concession they landed on a sign that read RESTROOMS, ahhh, Sara though, just what she needed. She looked back over to her three brothers who were talking to Pony and she knew if she asked them to go they would tell her to wait, so she started to turn and walk towards them anyways. She was just about to the entrance when she felt a hand on her shoulder.

"What are you doing?" The force on her arm made her swing around and there stood Darry with a frown on his face. "Sara, this is a big place with lots of people, you can't just go walking off by yourself. You need to have one of us with you. What if we didn't see you walk over here?" Darry was now pulling her away from the entrance.

"Darry, I can't wait any longer, I need to go." Sara was shaking herself loose from Darry's grip.

"Fine, go. But next time tell us first." Darry let her go. "I'll wait right here, hurry up." Sara quickly went in and did what she needed.

"That was a close one, Dar. Thank goodness Pony noticed her walking away. Otherwise she could've just walked off without us noticing. This probably wasn't a good idea to let her come with us. We're going to have to watch her like a hawk with all these people. I feel like we are at a carnival or something, minus the rides and weird people." Soda was watching as people of all kinds were walking by.

"I know." Darry huffed. Sara thought that she was being quick and came darting out into the crowd of people but Sodapop caught her by the shirt.

"Hold on there, little lady." Sara was stopped by the force of Soda pulling on the back of her shirt.

"You moved from where you were standing." Sara said wiping her wet hands off on her shorts.

"Yeah, but you shouldn't be charging off like that. From now on, you're holding one of our hands, got it?" Darry reached down for Sara's tiny hand and placed it into his big calloused one. "Ok Pony, let's get you to, where again?" Darry glanced down at the paper that was in Pony's hand.

"Section G" Pony said handing the paper for Darry to look at.

"That's right over here." Sodapop was looking at one of the signs that were pointing to the entrance of the grand stands. "F-J, this way." Soda started to head in the direction with Pony following.

"Don't let go of my hand." Darry warned Sara as he started tugging her to follow along.

"I'm thirsty, Darry. Can we get a cola?" Sara was looking back at the concession stands.

"Not now. Maybe later." Darry continued to pull her along.

"I'm hungry too." Sara added.

"You're going to drive me nuts, you know that." Sara could sense the aggravation that was starting to form in Darry's voice. "Didn't I tell you to eat at the diner? I knew that this would happen. I have snacks in the bag, when we find our seats you can have something from that." Darry said while continuing to follow Pony.

"But I want a hot dog and french fries." Sara continued complaining.

"Too bad. I packed peanut butter and jelly sandwiches and chips. If you're good maybe I'll treat you to some cotton candy or something, but you have to be good. And by good, I mean this whining and taking off without us is going to stop." Darry finally slowed down to look back at her to make sure she was listening. Sara just looked up at her brother with her big blue eyes.

"I got it." She softly said back to Darry.

"Good, now let's keep up with Pony and Soda." As they walked up the tunnel ramp they enter the grand stands that looked down onto the track that surrounded a football field. There were athletes all over the place all dressed in their school uniforms, Sara thought it was like looking at a rainbow. There were so many different colors, reds, blues, yellows, greens, golds,purples,oranges everywhere you looked. Through all the people and colors Ponyboy was able to spot his coach and Randy Anderson.

"Darry, over there." Pony said pointing to his coach and Randy. Darry pushed his way through the crowd saying "excuse me, pardon me" every so often trying to get to Pony's coach and Randy. "Coach Taylor." Pony called out to get his attention. His coach turned and smiled at Darry and Pony.

"I was starting to get nervous Curtis. What are you trying to give me a heart attack or something?" Coach Taylor was holding out his hand towards Darry. "Darry." He said shaking hands with him. "You survived the ride I see." Coach Taylor smiled down at Sara.

"Barely." Darry said sharing a laugh with Coach Taylor.

"Why don't you go find a seat Darry, and I'll take Pony off of your hands and start getting him stretched out." As Pony was moving his way down the stairs towards the track Coach Taylor grabbed a hold of his shirt. "Ponyboy, how did you get that bruise on your face?" Pony's face instantly turned a crimson red with embarrassment.

"Ummm, I kinda of got into a disagreement with another guy." Pony could hear Randy chuckling behind his coach.

"I sure hope you won. Are you hurt anywhere else, Son?" Coach was looking Pony over pretty good now.

"No, Sir. I'm fine." Pony was lying through his teeth.

"Glad to hear it. Let's get you and Randy stretched out then." Coach Taylor put his hand on Pony's back and was leading him over to the infield to start stretching and doing some warm up.

Darry had found some seats high up in the bleachers so that he could see the whole track.

"Could we've gotten any further away, Dar?" Soda asked plopping himself down on the hard bleachers.

"I want to be able to see him. From up here we'll be able to see him around the whole track. I didn't travel all this way to see other people's backs, Soda." Darry said settling down on the bleachers.

"So what do we do now?" Soda asked being dead serious.

"You're kidding, right?" Darry crocked his eyebrow up at his brother.

"Darry, you know this stuff isn't my type of thing. I hate waiting around." Soda was now standing back up swaying from side to side.

"Hate to tell you this little buddy, but it's going to be awhile before Pony's first event is up. Go take a walk or something if you're bored."

"Can I go too?" Sara looked up at Soda hoping he would say "yes".

"Soda?" Darry looked over towards him with pleading eyes.

"Sure. But you've gotta hold my hand the whole time." Soda warned Sara.

"I will." Sara jumped out of her seat with joy, for she didn't really want to be sitting here the whole time waiting with Darry.

Soda started descending down the stairs with Sara hopping right behind him. Soda had made it down the first flight of bleacher when he heard Darry hollering his name.

"Sodapop!" Soda stopped and looked up to where Darry was still sitting.

"What?" He hollered back.

"Make sure you watch her." Darry motioned down towards Sara whose little legs were trying to catch up to her big brother.

"I got it, Dar. Stop worrying." Soda replied while shaking his head at Darry. Once Sara had caught up to Soda he continued down the rest of the bleachers to the ground. When Sara had reached the bottom Soda grabbed her hand. "Where to?" Soda looked around.

"I don't know, where ever, I guess." Sara was willing to go explore anywhere her big brother wanted to. Soda pulled her back towards the tunnel that led to the bathrooms and the concession stands. The two fought their way through the crowds and retraced their steps back to where they had entered. Soda was leading the way around the stands. "Let's head down this way." Sara followed without any hesitation. Soda had led her to the very end of the grand stands where they could see the area that the high jump and pole vault events were taking place. The two stood there for a few minutes watching the kids practice for their events.

"How do they do that?" Sara asked looking on in amazement. "Can Pony do that stuff?" Sara asked with wide eyes.

"I don't think so." Soda let out a laugh at his baby sister's comment.

"I wanna try it." Sara let go of Sodapop's hand and moved closer to the stairs that descended down to the field.

"Oh, no you don't." Soda said grabbing her arm, stopping her from going any further. "Remember what Darry said. Hold my hand and stay with me."

"I just want to get a closer look, Sodapop." Sara said tilting her head to the side.

"You do that again, and I'll take you back and you'll have to sit with Darry the rest of the time. Is that what you want?" Soda was being firm with Sara.

"No." Sara quickly grabbed his hand to hold onto. "I'm sorry, Soda. I won't do it again. I promise."

"Good, now let's go see what else we can find, huh?" Soda said with mischief dancing in his eyes.

"Ok." Sara agreed willingly. Soda led Sara back down through the stands and into the area of the concessions; the smell coming from there was absolutely driving Sara's stomach crazy. She should have listened to Darry and eaten all of her pancakes back at the diner.

"Can I have your attention please?" And announcer had come over the PA system. "We're getting ready to start our opening ceremonies. I encourage everyone to return to their seats and we'll begin in a few minutes."

"We've better get back. We can come back again in a little bit." Soda told Sara as they headed back to section G. Once they had gotten back the announcer was back on the PA system

"Welcome to the 1965 Oklahoma State Track and Field Competition. Would you please rise for the singing of our national anthem performed by the choir from Walker Ridge High School." Darry nudged Sara to stand. Sara slowly got to her feet and listened to the national anthem. After it was over everyone applauded for the choir and the announcer came back onto the PA system. "Would you please bow your head for the reading of the Lord's prayer being led by Deacon Dennis from St. Gregory's Church here in Oklahoma City." Sara noticed that the people down in front of her were grabbing each other's hands to hold, but Darry nor Soda reached for her hand, so Sara reached for theirs and to her surprise both boys took ahold of them. After the reading the announcer had another thing to say. "Please continue to bow your heads for a list of local Vietnam Dead." Darry let go of Sara's hand and continued to bow his head as the announcer read through a list of names that meant nothing to Sara.

"What are they doing? Are these names of athletes?" Sara asked with curiosity.

"Hush." Darry spoke in a low tone. Sara looked around and she noticed that there were some women around her crying along with some teenage girls a few rows down.

"Soda, why are they crying?" Sara curiosity was getting the best of her.

"Sara, stop talking." Darry warned.

"What?" Sara mouthed to Sodapop, but Soda just shook his head at her. Sara was to young to understand what was happening half way across the world and Darry and Soda wanted to keep it that way.

"Now, for the event you all have been waiting for. We'll start with the shorter distant races first and then will move our way through. If you are here to see a field event they will be happening simultaneously with the running events. Please remember to stay off the infield and track area." The crowd erupted with a cheer.

"Is Pony running yet?" Sara asked sitting back down in between Darry and Sodapop.

"Not yet. We'll have to wait at least a few races before we even get to his first event. His first event will be the 800 meter. We'll have to go through the 100, 200, 400 before the 800 begins." Darry was trying to explain it to both Soda and Sara.

"I'm hungry, Dar. What do we have to eat?" Soda had picked up the brown paper bag that Darry had brought in with them.

"There's some chips, apples, bananas, peanuts. Save the sandwiches for later though."

"Can I have an apple?" Sara asked holding out her hand. Soda dug through the bag and handed Sara an apple and grabbed one for himself. The three Curtis' stayed there and watched a couple of races. Soda and Sara were picking random people to route for during the races that Ponyboy wasn't in. Darry was just shaking his head at the two.

"Soda, how come there's no pink uniform? There's every color in the rainbow but no pink." This caused both Darry and Sodapop to start laughing hysterically at Sara's question.

"Pink isn't a very good school color there, squirt." Soda laughed again.

"I like pink. I think it would make a very good school color." Sara was trying to defend her statement about pink being a school color.

"I don't think boys would appreciate it too much." Darry added.

"But that boy is wearing purple and he doesn't seem to mind." Sara pointed to a runner who had just finished the race. She didn't understand the difference between pink and purple. The boys still continued to chuckle at her.

Sara did a good job sitting there picking runners and routing for them while they waited for Pony's events. During the 400 meter race Pony was able to come over to where the Curtis Family was sitting.

"Hey guys." Pony said as he reached the top of the bleachers.

"Hey Pony, are you ready?" Darry asked standing up and stretching some.

"I think so. I feel good. The waiting is killing me though. I just want to get going." Pony's eyes darted between Darry and his coach who was standing at the bottom of the bleachers.

"You're telling me." Sodapop said under his breath.

"Sorry it's taking so long, but just think if I don't win anything, we can head out right after the 1600 meter." Pony was trying to make Sodapop feel better about the waiting around.

"Well, then we better get used to the waiting. Because we'll need to stay for the award ceremonies, now won't we." Soda faked pouched Pony in the arm. Pony just flashed a smile back at him.

"We'll see." Pony said looking back down at his coach.

"Curtis! Let's go!" Coach Taylor was hollering from the bottom of the stands towards the Curtis Family.

"I gotta go." Pony said getting ready to leave. Sara jumped up from where she was sitting and ran over and grabbed a hold of Pony's waist. "What's this for?" Pony looked down at her.

"To wish you luck." Sara said letting go. "And cause we'll still love ya, no matter if you win or not." This caused another round of chuckles, even from Pony.

"Well, that is reassuring that you'll still love me even if I lose." Pony ruffled Sara's head and started down the stairs. Darry moved Sara aside and passed by her to stop Pony.

"Pony, wait." Darry took a hold of his shoulder. "Seriously, we are proud of you for making it this far. Just do your best out there. We'll be here cheering you on!" Pony smiled at Darry and Darry gave his shoulder a quick squeeze.

"Curtis, get a move on!" Coach Taylor hollered again.

"Gotta go, Dar. I'll see you after the race."

"Go get them, Tiger." Darry said with a huge grin on his face as he watch his younger brother go and compete in the 800 meter Oklahoma State Meet, he couldn't feel any more proud.

"I'm getting so nervous." Soda said standing and pacing back and forth.

"Soda, it's going to be ok." Darry watched his brother pacing the bleachers.

"Look!" Sara said pointing towards the track. Pony was getting ready to head towards the starting line.

"Lane 1, Thomas Brady from Moore High School, Oklahoma City. Lane 2, Aaron Dobson from Clinton High School, Clinton. Lane 3, Julian Edelman from Jay High School, Jay. Lane 4, Steven Ridley from Hollis High School, Hollis. Lane 5, Sebastian Vollmer from Turner High School, Burenyville. Lane 6, Daniel Connolly from New Castle High School, Newcastle. Lane 7, Vince Wilfork from Bethel High School, Shawnee. Lane 8, Ponyboy Curtis, from Will Rogers High School, Tulsa."

"Go Pony!" Soda yelled once his name was read by the announcer. By now all three Curtis members were all standing. The sound of the gun sounded and the race began. "Go, Pony!" Soda continued to holler, even though Pony probably couldn't hear him. They watched the runners turn the corner, and noticed that Pony was struggling some.

"He's not in front." Sara said while watching the race.

"He's just building his momentum up, that's all. Don't worry." Darry tried to convince Sara that it was alright. The Curtis Family continued to cheer Pony on but watched in horror, for Pony was falling further and further behind the pack.

"Dar, I don't think he's going to make it." Soda had stopped cheering and was just standing there watching his brother trying to keep up in the pack.

"No, just wait, he's moving up a bit." As the Curtis' watch, Pony had seemed to pick up some steam and he was now moving back up into 5th place. The group was rounding the track again and they just sat there watching as Pony was slowly making a move back up to the front again. Sodapop continued to cheer for Pony.

"Go Pony!" Soda nudged Sara to get her to join him.

"You can do it!" Sara yelled to her brother. They watched as Pony stayed in a steady pace and made another lap around the track.

"See, I told you, he was just waiting to make his move." Darry reassured his siblings. The group was now on the final stretch of the track when Pony seemed to put the wheels on and had now moved into third. Soda and Sara were screaming and jumping up and down on the loud steal bleachers. People were starting to look at them for they were making them shake quite a bit. The group was coming towards the finish line when Pony had crossed and it looked like he took fourth in the heat. There was another 800 meter heat after Pony's and the top three times would place. Pony was walking around and cooling down while Sodapop flew down the stadium stairs to congratulate his brother, Sara was right on his heels.

"Wait for me Soda." Sara was crying out after Soda. Once Soda was at the bottom he could hear Sara and stopped and waited for her. The two walked down towards the stairs leading to the track and waited with some other folks for the boys to come back around from their cool down.

"Pony!" Soda was waving towards Pony to get his attention, by this time Darry had also join them to congratulate Pony. Pony slowly walked over and Soda engulfed Pony in a hug.

"That was great! You did so good. You had me worried for a minute there." Soda was still all over Pony.

"Nice race there, Pony." Darry slapped him playfully on the back.

"Thanks. I kind of lost it towards the end, but we'll have to see what the times are after this race. I'll know if I placed or not once this race is over. That was a tough heat I was in." Pony was trying to catch his breath. "I'm going to grab some water and stretch out some more. There isn't much time in between this race and next."

"Ok, we'll be cheering you on for the 1600." Darry said motioning for Sara and Soda to move on back to the bleachers.

"Hey, Dar, I need to move around some. I'll be back." Soda said moving towards the tunnel.

"Can I come? I have to use the bathroom again." Sara was moving away from Darry and closer to Soda in hopes he would say "yes".

"Can you take her this time?" Soda looked back at Darry.

"You're going, so just take her." Darry wanted to watch the next heat to see if Pony had any competition in it.

"Come along Sara." Soda was starting to walk away from them.

"Soda, watch her. It's getting real busy around here now that it's getting close to lunch time." Darry had noticed the people coming in and out of the tunnel with food and drinks. "When you guys get back we can eat the sandwiches that I packed." Soda just nodded towards Darry and continued to move with Sara tagging along behind him. They walked together to the concession stands were the bathrooms were located, of course there was a long line for the women's room, but Soda didn't really want to take her in the men's room so he told her to go stand in line. He waited with her until he couldn't go any further. "I'll be waiting over here for you, and Soda pointed to the wall over by the concession stands.

"Ok. I'll be right out." Sara let go of Soda's hand and disappeared inside of the women's bathroom. Soda was started to get thirsty and he looked over to the line at the concession stand and decided that he would go wait in line and grab a Pepsi and some fries, that would be a special treat for Sara who was doing a good job waiting around for Pony's races to be over. As he walked over to the stand he kept his eyes on the women's bathroom, for he didn't want to miss Sara when she came out. The concession stand was close enough so that he could holler to her if he needed to. As Soda got up to the counter there was a pretty girl with red hair and green eyes that started flirting with Sodapop, as the two were exchanging pleasantries, Soda had dropped his wallet. As he was picking it up from the ground he took his eyes off of the bathroom for just a split second, but that's all it took was that split second. For in that moment a large group of high school kids came crowding around the concession stand and were standing in a large group waiting for their friends who had joined the line. But in that same quick second that Sodapop had taken his eyes off of the bathroom, and the crowd of kids had moved in, Sara had exited the bathroom. She turned to the spot that Sodapop told her that he would be in, but she didn't see him there. She moved closer to the spot but all she noticed was a crowd of big kids standing around in a group by the concession stand. Where did he go she thought? Sara started to get a little scared for the place was starting to fill up fast with people. She had remembered hearing Darry tell this to Sodapop. Sara didn't know what to do. As she was scanning the area her first thought was to go and try to find Darry. So instead of staying put in the spot Soda had told her to meet him, she started moving in the direction that she thought Darry was at. Before Sara knew it she had walked at least 100 feet away from the bathroom and concession stands and was way out of sight of where Sodapop had told her he would be. By the time Soda had paid for his Pepsi and fries he moved back to the spot he told Sara to meet him at. He waited there for at least 5 minutes and no Sara, and he was starting to get nervous. He waited another minute, until finally he moved over to the entrance of the women's bathroom.

"Excuse me?" Soda said to an older lady that was at the front of the line. "My sister went in there at least 10 minutes ago; can you do me a favor and see if she's still in there? Her name is Sara and she is about this high with auburn hair hanging down to her shoulders with blue eyes. She's 5 years old, so she might be having a hard time reaching the sink or something."

"I'll see what I can do. I'll let you know when I come back out. And you are?" The lady was making sure Soda wasn't up to any good.

"I'm her brother Sodapop Curtis, her name is Sara Curtis." The lady just nodded not sure if she seemed to believe his name or not.

"Ok, I'll let you know." Soda stepped back and was still holding his Pepsi and french fries. He was hoping that Sara was just having trouble with the sink like at the diner. He waited another few minutes until the lady came back out, she had a puzzled look on her face, Soda ran over to her. "Is she ok?"

"Son, I don't know how to tell you this, but there is no little girl in there. I checked and waited for all the stalls to empty, but there is no little girl that fits your description."

"She has to be in there. I watched her walk in." Soda's heart started racing, she just had to be in there.


	10. Chapter 10

Chapter 10

Sodapop walked up and down looking all over for Sara, and he couldn't find her anywhere. After searching for almost 15- 20 minutes he knew what he needed to do. He turned around at the area of the field events where he was certain he would find her, to head back towards section G of the grandstands. On his way back he kept his eyes open for any little girl that walked passed him. Soda was kicking himself for not paying more attention to what she was wearing today. He made a mental note to start paying more attention to stuff like that, just in case something like this ever happened again. As Soda was heading up through the tunnel to section G he heard the announcer on the PA system announce The names of the runners for the next race. "Lane 1, Ryan Mallet, Porter Consolidated High, Porter. Lane 2, Jerrod Mayo, Chelsea High School, Chelsea. Lane 3, Ponyboy Curtis, Will Rogers High, Tulsa. Lane 4, Shane Vereen, Bixby High, Bixby." Soda tuned out the rest of the names of the runners in the race to try to decide what to do. He really wanted to see Pony race, but knew that he needed to get back to Darry. Sodapop paused for a minute after he heard the gun shot to signal the start of the race. Soda noticed that Pony was slow off the block. Pony seemed to be struggling to keep a steady pace with the other runners. Soda started cheering for Pony. "Come on Pony! Keep up! You can do this!" Soda was yelling at Pony to help motivate him to kick it in gear a little. Soda started to move towards the bleachers to go tell Darry about Sara when he noticed that Pony was grabbing at his side. Soda rushed to the stairs leading down to the field, but was stopped by an attendant that was keeping people off of the track.

"Sorry, Son, you cannot go any further." The older gentleman held out his hands to stop Soda.

"But, that is my brother down there. He looks hurt." Soda pleaded with the guy as he noticed that Ponyboy was now dropping out of the race. The man looked over and saw Ponyboy walking over to the side of the track where he was being met by Coach Taylor. "Ponyboy!" Soda yelled to get Pony's attention.

"Son, you need to wait until the race is over. Once the runners cross the finish line I will let you get to your brother." Soda was ready to protest again but suddenly felt a strong hand grab his shoulder. When Soda turned around he noticed a very worried Darry.

"Darry, Ponyboy is hurt." Soda eyes focused on Darry's etched face.

"I see that, Soda. But what I am more concern about right now is why Sara isn't with you?" Darry now had both of his hands square on Soda's shoulders looking him straight in the eyes.

"Oh, shit, Dar, I was on my way to come tell you but then saw Ponyboy get hurt."

Darry cut off Sodapop's sentence. "Soda, where is Sara?" Darry's voice rose with a crack in it.

"I lost her, Dar. I sent her into the ladies room and went to get her a Pepsi and fries for being good, and when I was finished she wasn't in the bathroom anymore." Soda felt like he was going to hyperventilate. Between not being able to find Sara, and now seeing Ponyboy hurt, he didn't think he could breathe.

"So the ladies room was the last place that you saw her?" Darry asked looking towards the tunnel.

"Yes." Soda managed to get out. Darry looked back down on the track and noticed that Ponyboy was being checked out by someone other than Coach Taylor.

"I can't believe this is happening. We need to go try to find her!" Darry paused and looked back towards Sodapop. "Soda, when this man lets you down on the track, go and find out what is wrong with Ponyboy. I am going to go hunt around, and maybe try to find someone to announce her name over the PA system. This might help us find her." Darry dropped his hands from Soda's shoulders and started for the tunnel. He took a few steps before turning back around towards Soda. "We'll find her; just don't say anything to Pony though."

"Ok Darry." Soda said turning his attention back down onto the field where Pony was now sitting up on a table.

Darry quicken his pace and was down in the tunnel heading towards the ladies bathroom. He was keeping his eyes up looking for a small little girl with auburn hair to her shoulders pulled back in a headband. Once he hit the concessions stand and the bathrooms he kept scanning all around trying to figure out where she might have gone. He remembered hearing her talking to Soda up in the stands about how great it was watching the field events so he started heading down in that direction, hoping that she might be there. As he approached the section of the grandstands he noticed a staff member with an orange shirt on that read "staff" on the back.

"Excuse me, Sir?" Darry said approaching the man.

"Yes?" He asked.

"I am looking for my sister, I was wondering if you have seen a little girl about this tall, with auburn, red hair to about her shoulders, wearing a headband, with blue eyes?" Darry was trying his best to describe Sara to the man.

The man was hesitant for a moment before speaking. "I am sorry, Son. I don't recall seeing a little girl fitting that description. How long has she been missing for?"

"At least 20- 30 minutes I would say. My brother sent her into the ladies room and he went to get a Pepsi and fries and he never saw her come out of the bathroom. I was hoping that she would be down this way because she enjoyed watching the field events. I am starting to get nervous." Darry openly admitted to the staff member.

"Understandable. How old is she?" The man asked fishing out a notepad from his pocket to write something on.

"She will be 6 in 4 days." Darry was starting to pace a little still keeping his eyes up and scanning the area for her.

"Wow, now I really understand your concern, Son. Her name?" The man asked still writing things down on the little note pad.

"Sara." Darry said quickly. "Sara Curtis."

"And you are?"

"I am her brother, Darrel." Darry caught a glimpse of Sodapop running across the track to see Ponyboy and Coach Taylor.

"Well, Darrel, why don't you come with me and we will try to get a search team going." The man started leading Darry away from the area of the field events. "Try not to get too worked up just yet. We'll get a search team going, and if we don't have any luck with that we'll do a PA call for her. 9 out of 10 times this leads us to finding the child. My name is Carl."

"I hope your right." Darry huffed and fell in step with Carl.

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"Ponyboy." Soda spoke as he rushed up to where Ponyboy was being examined by someone other than Coach Taylor.

"Hold up there, Sodapop. We need the trainer to finish looking Pony over." Coach Taylor stepped in front of Soda to stop him from getting any closer to Ponyboy.

"I want to talk to my brother, Coach." Soda tried to squeeze by Coach Taylor.

"First, I think you should tell me what exactly happened to Pony last night?" Coach Taylor wasn't looking to please with Soda right now.

"What do you mean?" Soda was trying to hear and see what was going on with Pony.

"I noticed the bruises on Pony's face when he first got here and he told me that he just had a misunderstanding with some guy last night. But now it seems like there is a little more than just bruises." Coach was looking straight at Soda hoping for answers on why his star runner just dropped out of a race that he should have taken one of the top three spots in.

"I don't know what you're talking about, other than what Pony told you." Soda couldn't possible tell Coach that there was a rumble last night. This information would cause more trouble for everyone involved, Greasers and Socs.

"Don't play dumb with me Sodapop Curtis. Just because you dropped out of school, I know you are a lot smarter than that." Coach Taylor was trying to pull some kind of information from Soda.

"Soda?" Pony called out.

Sodapop pushed passed Coach Taylor and rushed over to Pony who was sitting on a table. "Yeah Pony, I'm right here. Are you ok?" Soda was yet again stopped by another adult when he approached Pony.

"Are you family?" The man asked.

"Yes, I am his brother. Is he ok?" Soda glanced over at Pony who looked very uncomfortable sitting up on the table.

"I'm Jerry O'Connell and I am the athletic trainer on sight. Are you Darrel?" The trainer asked Sodapop.

"No, I am his brother Sodapop, our brother Darry is taking care of something right now. He sent me down."

The trainer looked a little uncertain but decided that Sodapop would have to do. "Ponyboy seem to have a broken rib. I am surprised that you couldn't tell that. His right side rib cage is quit bruised. Please come see for yourself." Jerry moved over to Pony who had now put his shirt back on. "Pony, can you please lift your shirt so your brother here can see your ribs?" Jerry had a certain tone in his voice that made Ponyboy do exactly as he was told. Pony's eyes slowly rose from looking down at the ground to Soda who was now standing right in front of him. Once the two boy's eyes met, Soda could see the pain that Pony was in. Pony slowly lifted his shirt so the Jerry and Sodapop and now Coach Taylor could see.

"Oh, Pony!" was all that Soda could get out once he noticed the dark bruising around Pony's right side. "Why didn't you say anything?" Soda was feeling guilty, for he knew last night that there was something wrong with Pony. He should have been a better brother and made a point to look him over completely instead of just taking his word that he was fine.

"I hate to say this, but your brother should have never been racing today. He needs to be resting those ribs, and running is certainly not the way to rest them. I heard that he had one more event, but as the medical person on staff here, I am pulling him from that race." Jerry turned back towards Pony and could see the disappointment in his face. "I am sorry Son. But you took a big enough risk running the first two, and I can't allow the next one. There is always next year." Jerry patted Pony's shoulder and turned to Soda and Coach Taylor. "Coach my recommendation is to get this kid home, the sooner the better."

"Thank you, Jerry. I will send him home right now." Coach Taylor shook the trainers hand and turned towards Pony. "Ponyboy Curtis, that had to be the dumpiest stunt ever. What were you thinking? You should have spoken up. Pack your bags and get on out of here. We will finish this conversation on Monday, in my office during your lunch hour. Is that clear?" Coach Taylor was laying into Pony just like Darry would have if he was here and not dealing with Sara at the moment.

"Yes, Coach, I hear you." Pony was struggling to get down off the table. Sodapop was at his side trying to make things a little easier.

"Good, then. Have a safe ride home." Coach Taylor stormed off towards where Anderson was standing waiting for his race to begin.

Sodapop was helping Pony with his bag not sure what to say. Soda had so many emotions running through him right now he felt like he was going to burst. But finally Pony broke the silence between the two.

"Are you mad?" Pony said in a low, soft voice.

"Yes." Soda couldn't help but answer. For he was mad at Pony for not telling him or Darry that he was hurt. And he was also mad that Pony put himself in jeopardy of doing even more damage to himself.

"I'm sorry, Soda. What do you think Darry is going to say?" Pony was leaning on Soda as they tried to hurry across the track before the next race began. Soda didn't know what to say, for he couldn't even imagine what was going through Darry's mind right now. First, Sara missing and now Pony hurt, God only knows what Darry was going to say or do. After a minute of not responding something must of clicked in Pony's head. "Soda, where is Darry? And Sara?"

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"Mike, this is Darrel Curtis, he has lost his 6 year old sister. Can we do an all call over the PA system for a code red?" Darry was now standing up in the announcer's booth with Carl, the staff member that he had inquired about for help.

"What's a code red?" Darry asked Carl, knowing that just the sounds of it, was scary enough.

"A code red is to alarm all staff members that there is a missing child. Any available staff members will meet outside of the booth and we will give them all a description of your sister. They will all go and comb the grounds for her. After 10-15 minutes we will then do an all call for her. We try to space it out so not to alarm any of the participants and guest." Carl explained to Darry.

"Ok. But I feel that's a lot of time being wasted. Why can't we just do an all call now for her? I am certain that if she hears her name she will come running." Darry tried to convince Carl.

"I understand your concern, Darrel, I do. I have a daughter that is 6, and I can only imagine what you must be feeling, but this is protocol and we need to follow procedure first. Mike, are you ready?"

"Sure, now might be the perfect time for we are just about to announce the next runners." Mike cleared his voice and picked up the microphone and with a serious voice spoke loud and clear, "Attention Staff, this is a Code Red. I repeat this is a Code Red." As Mike shut off the microphone, Darry couldn't believe how fast orange shirts came rushing towards the announcer's booth. It only took a few minutes before Carl had 7-8 people standing outside of the booth waiting for further instructions.

"Darrel, lets step outside so Mike can get started with the next runner." Carl placed a hand on Darry's shoulder to escort him out the door. "Carl, we might be back in 10 minutes to try an all call for her."

"I'll be waiting. Good luck."

Darry and Carl stepped out to the crowd of staff members. "Thank you all for coming so fast. We have a missing 6 year old girl. Her name is Sara Curtis. She is about 3 feet 6inches tall, she has blue eyes, red-auburn hair, was last seen with a headband in it. This is her older brother Darrel Curtis. He believes that she was wearing a pair of blue shorts and a pink t-shirt. She was last seen entering the ladies bathroom at the concessions stand F-G. The plan is to scan the area for 10-15 minutes. We will all report back her at 12:55. If you find her please tell her you are bringing her to see her brother Darrel and report back to the booth." The staff quickly agreed and they were off before Darry even blinked.

"I can't believe this is happening." Darry said taking a deep breath. "I am supposed to be watching my brother compete in State's and he had dropped out of the race and my little sister is missing. There is never a dull moment in my life, I swear." Darry had pushed his hands deep down in his pockets and was pacing back and forth outside of the booth.

"I know this might be a bold question to ask, Darrel, but where are your parents?" Carl was trying to put things together just in case this search was a failure and he needed to have more information on Sara.

"My parents died about 5 months ago in a car accident. I have legal guardianship of my siblings."

"Oh, I see. Where is your brother now?"

"He is with my other brother." Darry knew that he probably should go and find them before any more damage was done. "Actually I should probably go and get them, so they are not worried too much."

"Maybe we should wait just a little longer until we find out what the search team comes up with first. Another few minutes won't hurt none. Tell me about your sister. Having a 6 year old myself, I can't imagine what that must be like for you raising her on your own." Mike continued to try to make small talk with Darry so that time wouldn't seem like it was standing still.

"Well, she is a handful that is for sure. I never realized it before, you know because she wasn't my responsibility, she was just a normal little sister, bugging me and following me around everywhere. But now, now she is constantly in my head. I don't think there is a minute that goes by that I am not thinking about her. It's always one thing or another with her. Breaking up a fight with her other brothers, or who is going to watch her while I work. To things like needing something for school or needing new clothes. You must know what I am talking about?" Darry looked over towards Carl and just let out a big heavy sigh. "kids. I don't ever remembering pulling stunts like this." He said.

Carl just let out a chuckle. "I think we all say that at one time or another." This comment from Carl actually made Darry let out a little laugh too.

"You're probably right about that." Darry responded while he continued to pace.

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Sara had lost all sense of direction right about now. She felt like she had walked around the stadium a hundred times, but for the life of her she couldn't remember what section they were sitting in. She had walked by that ladies room so many times in hope that Sodapop would be there waiting for her, but no such luck. As Sara was heading pass all the concession stands her stomach was starting to feel all queasy. Sara wasn't sure if it was from the smells of the food making her hungry or because she was starting to get real scared. This had never happened to her before. She had never gotten lost, not even at home or in the neighborhood, there was always someone around that kept an eye on her. Sara had now ventured out to the front of the stadium where they had entered when they had first arrived. She was now standing at the front gates looking out into the parking lot. Sara's heart was beating so fast and she was starting to become sweaty, not because it was real warm out, but because she was truly scared and didn't know what to do. The one thing that she was certain of was that Darry, Sodapop, and Ponyboy would eventually have to return back to Steve's car. So Sara thought what was best was to head back to the car, they would surely come there looking for her she thought. Sara slowly walked through the many cars and buses and finally found where Darry had parked Steve's car. Sara felt a little relief overcome her when she arrived to it. She reached for the door handle hoping that Darry didn't lock the doors. They never lock the doors at home, but this wasn't home and it wasn't Darry's old pick-up truck. As Sara pulled the handle she was happy to find that Darry hadn't locked it and Sara climbed on into the car. The sight of her blanket and pillow and teddy bear was a welcoming sight.

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The staff members looking for Sara were all starting to gather again outside the announcer's booth and Darry knew that things were not looking good when the remaining few had gathered.

Each staff member gave Carl a shake of their head to let him know that they hadn't seen Sara. "Ok, then, we'll do an all call for her." Carl entered back into the booth and spoke with Mike.

The next thing that was heard throughout the stadium was, " Excuse me, can I have your attention please. Would Sara Curtis please come to the announcer's booth. Sara Curtis?"


	11. Chapter 11

Chapter 11

Pony's cold hard stare at his brother was starting to send chill's through Soda. "Sodapop, what the hell is going on here? Why are they announcing Sara's name over the PA system?" Pony stopped glaring at Soda and starting searching the crowds and stands hoping to spot his little sister.

"We didn't want to worry you, Pon." Soda slowly placed his hand on Pony's shoulder.

"A little too late for that now, wouldn't you say? Where is Darry anyhow?" Pony started moving towards the exit of the stadium.

"I don't know. The last I saw of him was right before I came down onto the track to check on you." Soda started following right after his younger brother.

"I bet he is probably with the announcer. Let's head up to the booth."

"Pony, you can't possible climb those bleacher stairs in your condition." Sodapop warned. "You need to be resting; you heard what the trainer said." Pony just puffed out his checks and knew that Soda was right. "Why don't you just take a seat and watch the rest of the meet and I'll head up to the announcer's booth and see if Darry's up there." Pony hated the thought of having to stay and watch the rest of the meet and not be able to help find Sara.

"Alright." Pony said giving into his brother. "But you better come back and let me know what's going on. Promise me Soda?"

"You got it, Pon." Soda squeezed Pony's shoulder trying to reassure him that he would come back as soon as he had some information. Soda darted up the stadium stairs towards the announcer's booth. As he was approaching the top he needed to slow his pace down to catch his breath. Once he reached the top flight he could see Darry talking with someone. Soda took one more deep breath before calling out to his older brother. "Darry!" Darry's head spun around and both boys' eyes locked. Darry didn't need to say a word to Soda for his eyes did all the talking.

"Is this one of your brothers?" Carl asked reaching his hand forward to shake Sodapop's.

"Yeah, this is my brother Sodapop. Soda this is Carl. Carl is heading up the search for Sara. There has been no sight of her still." Darry words stung Soda. The guilt that Soda was feeling right now was indescribable. He was beating himself up inside for losing Sara.

"Sodapop, do you have any other information that could help us in our search?" Carl asked. Soda just shook his head no.

"I've told Darry what happened. It was just a split second my eyes were off the bathroom." Soda voice cracked as he spit out the last part of the sentence. To Soda's surprise, Darry moved closer to Soda and gave his shoulder a squeeze. Even though Darry was having every emotion possible running through his veins at the moment, he could tell that this was affecting Sodapop just as much.

Darry husky voice whispered into Soda's ear. "Soda, we'll find her."

"She has to be around here somewhere, Dar. She just has too." Soda's shoulders started to tremble and Darry pulled him into a tight hug.

"I know, Soda. We just have to keep looking." Soda quickly wiped at the tears that were beginning to fall from his heresy eyes. Darry pulled away from Soda and started to inquire about the other Curtis member. "Where's Ponyboy?" Darry was trying to focus on something else for a minute in hopes that this would help Soda get his emotions back in check.

"He's waiting in the stands. Darry, that little shit has a possible broken rib. The trainer has pulled him from the rest of the competition. Can you believe he knew he was hurt and he raced anyways? I'm so pissed right now at him!" Darry just rolled his eyes and shook his head.

"What else could possible go wrong today?" Darry couldn't believe the luck that they were having.

"The trainer and Coach Taylor told him to get in the car and go home. What are we going to do, Dar?"

"I don't know, little buddy. But what I do know is that we aren't leaving here until we find Sara."

"Sorry to interrupt you two, but I think we are ready to do another search. Now that the competition is coming to an end we're pulling more staff to help with the search. With the extra people we'll also start doing a search outside the perimeter of the stadium." Carl announced to Sodapop and Darry.

"Good. Good." Was all that Darry was able to get out.

"I wanna be part of the search team." Soda spoke up and said to Carl.

"Son, we usually ask that family stay in one area so that you can be notified if we find anything out." Carl said with a serious tone in his voice.

"What does that mean? You aren't thinking you're going to find her hurt or anything like that, do you?" Soda asked not completely understanding what Carl was trying to get at.

"No, not at all Son. It's just our protocol on how we handle situations like this. So please, stay here. Or what might be better is to go be with your other sibling so that you are all in one place. We'll come find you when we have more information." Carl started to head down the stadium stairs towards a group of staff members that had gathered down at the bottom of the track and field area. The stadium was starting to empty out with the completion of the events.

"Darry?" Soda's voice cracked again.

"Come on, Soda. Let's go get Pony. We need to let them do their job. They are trained in this type of thing." Soda slowly started to lead Darry down the stairs towards where he left Ponyboy.

Ponyboy was watching as happy and unhappy athletes were leaving the stadium with their families. Pony was feeling pretty poor right now. He was hurting from his injuries and was hurting with worry about his little sister. He can't believe that she went missing. Pony hadn't even asked Soda how this all happened in the first place. Pony was pretty sure that Darry wouldn't let Sara wander off by herself so how did she become missing? Pony could feel the bleachers vibrating underneath him so he turned his head to see who was filing down them. When he turned his head his first sight was that of Soda and Darry descending the stairs from the announcer's booth, without Sara. "Darry, what's going on? Where's Sara?" Pony asked trying to stand up from the bleachers.

"Hold on there, Pony. Just stay seated. We aren't going anywhere. They're still searching for Sara. They have pulled in more staff now that the meet is over and are also going to do a perimeter search. How are you feeling? You look like you're in a little bit of pain. You know you could have saved us this entire headache if you would have just told us that you were hurt in the first place. Jesus, Pony, we wouldn't be in this situation. Now look, Sara has been missing for over an hour now."

"Darry, it isn't Pony's fault. It's my fault." Soda tried to come to Pony's defense but Darry wasn't having any part of this.

Darry spun around and looked at his brother and what he said shook them all. "You're damn straight Sodapop! This is your fault! I told you to keep an eye on her! How f****** hard can that be?" Both Ponyboy and Sodapop's jaw dropped. Neither boy could remember the last time they had heard Darry drop the f bomb. But not only was Soda thrown off guard by Darry use of the f bomb but that he was openly blaming Soda. Ponyboy was sitting there with one hand covering his mouth while Soda just turned and ran off towards the concession stands.

"Sodapop!" Pony screamed after his brother trying to get up to attempt to go after him, but Darry's firm hand on his shoulder stopped Pony for any further action.

"You aren't going anywhere. You're staying here with me and we're going to wait and hope for a quick return of Sara." Pony could see the blaze in Darry's eyes and knew better than to try to take off after Soda so he settled himself back down on the bleacher. After Darry realized that Pony wasn't going to try to run off after Sodapop he removed his hand from his shoulder. "What the hell are we going to do? What's Mrs. Robert's going to say if she gets wind of this? What if we can't find her?" Darry turned and looked straight up to sky and with all the air he could he yelled, "SAARRAA!"

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Sara slowly opened her eyes and rubbed at them. The Oklahoma sun was surely warming up Steve's car. She could feel the sweat running down her back and gathering under her bangs. Sara started to swipe at the sweat on her forehead realizing how hot she had become. She didn't remember falling asleep, but what she did know is that no one was in the car with her, so that must have meant that the boys were still at the meet. She pushed herself up from the backseat and looked out the window. Wow she thought as she looked at the partially empty parking lot, where had all the cars and buses and trucks gone to? Was the meet over she thought to herself. Sara mouth and lips were dry and she desperately needed to use the bathroom and get something to quench her thirst. Sara knew in order to use the bathroom she would have to reenter into the stadium where she had come from in the first place. Sara reached for the handle of the door and opened it. As she was climbing out she noticed that Bear was laying in the backseat, just in case, she reached back in. "You'll protect me, right Mr. Bear?" Sara softly whispered to Bear. Sara walked swiftly through the parking lot. As she was approaching the stadium Sara started running. As she was picking up speed her shoe lace of her sneaker had come untied and Sara started stumbling towards the dirt parking lot. The minute she had impact onto the ground she felt instant pain. Sara couldn't help but start crying. She was crying for the pain that she was feeling running through her hands and her knees. As Sara tried to push herself up she could see the blood dripping from her knees and the small little pebbles that were stuck into the palms of her hands. With tears streaming down her face all she wanted more than anything right now was the comfort of her brothers. Why hadn't they come for her? Weren't they worried? Sara needed to find her brothers. So remembering where the entrance was she walked through the gates and headed passed the registration area that no one was at anymore and heading down the area that she remembered walking down with Sodapop. The concession stands had all closed down and no more delicious smells were coming from them. Sara was pretty disappointed for Darry had told her if she was good, that he would buy her some cotton candy, but now that the stands were shut down, she wouldn't be getting that cotton candy after all. Sara continued her way to the restroom still feeling the blood dripping down her leg and the small pebbles stinging in her hand. As the restroom was coming into focus, Sara noticed the water fountain and she darted to that immediately, and took a couple large gulps of water. Next she moved into the ladies room where she used the toilet. After she was done with that she walked over to the sink and turned on the water. She slowly started washing the small pebbles out of her hands. It took Sara a few minutes to clean her hands up.

Meanwhile the search team that was moving around the perimeter of the stadium was finishing up their search. Two teams were searching the parking lot and areas around the outside of the stadium. As three members of the search team was approaching the front of the gates one of members noticed something on the dirt gravel. As he moved closer to it he noticed it was a pretty tattered brown bear wearing a red ribbon around its neck. "Look, someone will sure be missing this tonight. It looks like its pretty well loved."

"Let's bring it back to the lost and found. I bet someone might be calling or coming to look for it."

"You got that right. That's a shame that we haven't seen any sign of the little girl. I think we better call in the Oklahoma City police. What do you think, Carl?"

"I think you're right, Harvey. Those brothers have been through so much, it's going to be tough to tell them that we're going to call in the OCPD." The group walked through the tunnel up towards where the two Curtis brothers were sitting and waiting. Some of the other groups of searchers had already started gather around Ponyboy and Darry, all reporting that they had no new information.

"Carl?" Darry said jumping up as Carl's team of searchers came through the tunnel towards the bleacher.

"Sorry, Darry. My team found absolutely nothing. Darry, it's been almost two hours now. We have used all of our resources and we have come up empty handed. Darry, I really think it's time to file a missing child's report to Oklahoma City Police Department. They have a lot more experience in this type of thing and they have more resources. I know this isn't the news you want to hear, but it's what needs to be done." Carl started to reach for Darry to have him follow him to the nearest phone. "Darry, there's a phone up in the announcer's booth, let's go and make that call." Darry couldn't believe what he was hearing. But he started to turn and follow Carl back to the announcer's booth.

"Ponyboy, stay here. Wait for Sodapop to come back. I'll be back when I'm finished with Carl."

"Ok, Dar. Please don't leave me here by myself to much longer though." Pony's childish voice rang after Darry. Darry's heart almost sank. He was so caught up in his own emotions of losing Sara that he hadn't stop to think about how this might be affecting Pony.

"I won't little man." Darry turned back to follow after Carl when Carl stopped.

"Hey Harvey, toss me up that stuff animal. I will place it in the lost in found while I'm up here." Carl yelled down to Harvey who was holding the teddy bear.

"Oh sure, here it comes." Harvey threw the bear up towards Carl, but it didn't quit make it there. It landed at Darry's feet. Darry bend down to pick it up and once his eyes focused he realized right away that this wasn't just any stuff anima,l this was Mr. Bear, the one and only Mr. Bear. Darry would know this bear from anywhere. Sara has had this bear since she was 1 year old. It has gone everywhere and she had slept with it everynight of her life since she was one.

"Mr. Bear!" Ponyboy shouted up to Darry. Darry almost had a slight smile tugging at his face. This was a sign. For he knew that Sara had left Mr. Bear in the car. That was the rule he had made with her after losing Mr. Bear at IGA right after the death of their parents. Sara knew that Mr. Bear could not come into public places that he needed to stay in the car.

"Darry, does this belong to Sara?" Carl asked

"YES!" Both Curtis brothers yelled.

"This is a good sign. Did she have this with her while inside the stadium? Because we found it outside in the parking lot." Carl informed Darry.

"No. She knows that it needs to stay in the car. She didn't have it with her while here." Darry started coming back down the bleacher knowing where he was heading towards, but Carl stopped him with a strong hand.

"Darry, do you think Sara would have tried to go back to the car to get him?" Carl asked.

"I don't know, but I say we go and find out." Darry had leaned down to help Ponyboy up off the bleachers. Ponyboy was slow to stand but once he was he started heading towards the tunnel.

"Darry, let's not get our hopes up, ok? I just want to prepare you that we might not find anything or anyone." Carl warned Darry making sure Pony was out of hearing range.

"Yeah, but then again, we might find something or someone." Darry gave a half smiled and started heading down the tunnel.

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Sodapop was hurting so. He couldn't believe what Darry had said to him, he couldn't believe that he had lost Sara, what would they do? He had searched all over this place and still nothing. After many trips around the stadium he needed a cigarette and he knew that Steve had a secret stash in the car. He would venture out to the car and grab the pack and hope that it would clam his nerves down. As he stepped into the parking lot he soon realized that there were very few cars left out there. He could easily see Steve's old Buick sitting by it's lonesome. He shuffled over to the car and opened the passenger's door and opened the glove compartment and found a half empty box of Marlboro Reds with a lighter inside of it. Sodapop quickly pulled one out and light it up. He took in a big, long puff. After a few seconds he exhaled the smoke. Soda could already feel the edge being taken off. He turned to look in the backseat and the sight of Sara's pillow and blanket almost made him choke on his next puff. He had to get outta the car before he had a complete meltdown. He couldn't stand looking at her stuff. What if they never find her? He couldn't even imagine what that would mean, or feel like. He slammed the door with a little force and started heading back towards the stadium. He figured it was time to face Darry again. He was hoping that by the time he finished his Marlboro that he would feel a little better.

Sara had managed to get what she could of the pebbles out of her hands, but after washing them several times they were pretty skinned up and red. She also managed to splash some water on her legs and tried to clean the blood off her knees, but wasn't as successful as she was with her hands. She carefully wiped her hands on her dirty shirt and shorts when Sara realized something. "Mr. Bear?" Where did she put Mr. Bear? She turned and looked around the ladies room but there was no Mr. Bear. Sara moved quickly back out the restroom door and was trying to retrace her footsteps. The water fountain she thought. But as she moved to the water fountain, no sight of Mr. Bear. She then started moving back down the aisle of where all the concessions stands were. "Where did I put Mr. Bear?" Sara was saying out loud. Just as she was trying to remember she felt the sting on her hands from the pebbles. "Oh, yes!" Sara remembered when she fell. All she wanted was her brothers and had forgotten about Mr. Bear. Sara was afraid that someone might have run over him in the parking lot so she quickened her pace back towards the parking lot. As Sara was approaching the gates of the entrance she stopped while a car was passing by. Sara was just itching to get back to the spot of where she had dropped Mr. Bear. She couldn't live without Mr. Bear.

Sodapop was just finishing up his smoke as he was approaching the entrance of the stadium. Soda noticed a car pulling out and was passing by so he stopped and threw down the butt of the cigarette and was stepping on it with his toe to make sure that it was out. The car was now out of his way and when he looked up he couldn't believe the sight that was now standing in front of him. "Sara!"


	12. Chapter 12

Chapter 12

Sara knew that voice, she knew that face, and she knew that boy that was standing only a few feet away from her. Sodapop's face was beaming a huge smile from ear to ear. Both Sara and Soda flew at each other. "Oh, Sara! Where have you been? Everyone has been looking for you." Soda scooped Sara up and was squeezing her so tight, but Sara didn't mind. For she had her arms tightly wrapped around Sodapop's neck. Soda couldn't believe that he was actually holding his sister in his arms; it was such a great feeling.

"Where have I been? Where have you been?" Sara asked back in a sassy tone, but Soda knew he had it coming, he just didn't expect it to come from her.

"I best get you back inside. Darry is just about to have a heart attack trying to find you." Soda placed Sara back down on the ground and firmly grabbed her hand as they walked back towards where he had left Darry and Ponyboy.

"Is he mad?" Sara asked with concern.

"Um, what do you think?" Soda tried to keep the sarcasm out of his voice. Sara just shook her head yes. "Try not to worry too much though; he might be madder at me than you right now."

"Really?" Sara's voice piped up a little.

"Don't be so happy there little lady. You know how fast Darry changes his mind. One minute he's mad at me and the next he can be mad at both of us." Just as Soda turned from looking down at Sara, they both heard the voice from whom they were just talking about.

"Sara?" Darry's voice squeaked out. Sara looked up to see Darry, Pony and a group of people with orange shirts coming towards them. Sara wasn't completely sure of the expression on Darry's face, so instead of running over to him and squeezing the daylights outta him, she stood straight and tall and held on to Sodapop's hand. Soda on the other hand did understand the expression on Darry's face and knew that Darry's face was saying exactly how Sodpop was feeling. Soda slipped his hand away from Sara's and lightly placed his hand on her back and gave her a little push towards where Darry had quicken his step and was moving a lot faster towards them. Sara cocked her head up and looked up to Soda as if she was asking are you sure? Soda gave her a nod and Sara turned and looked back at Darry and the crowd that was walking along beside of him. Sara started off with a speed walk towards Darry but it then turned into a jog and Darry quicken his speed walk to a jog and when the two were within feet of each other, Darry slowed down and went down on one knee and Sara leaped into his arms. Darry's big framed engulfed Sara. "Sara, where have you been?" Darry had moved his hand up and was rubbing the back of her hair, just letting himself relax some while holding his sister in his arms.

"Darry, I couldn't find Soda. He wasn't where he said he was gonna be. I got scared. I couldn't remember where you were so I went back to the car." Sara was talking so fast that Darry was having a hard time keeping up with her. "Darry, I don't wanna ever have this happen to me again." Darry couldn't help but grin at Sara's request.

"I don't want it to ever happen again, either." Darry stood back up with Sara still in his arms. He turned to see that Sodapop was still hanging back some, and knew that he needed to make things right with him. He walked towards Soda and stopped just inches in front of where Soda had been standing looking down at the hole in his sneaker. Darry reached over and grabbed Sodapop's chin and lifted his head up so that Darry could see his eyes. Darry noticed that Sodapop's eyes had glossed over with water. Darry knew that what he had said was wrong and that now they had found Sara he needed to apologize to Sodapop. "Soda?" Darry started to say, but Sara's voice interrupted Darry's apology attempt.

"Soda, don't cry. You found me. You should be happy." Sara let one of her hands go from Darry's neck and she flopped it around Sodapop's neck.

"They're tears of joy, right Soda?" The three Curtis members turned to see that Ponyboy was now standing next to them. Soda let out a little laugh.

"Yeah, something like that, Pon." Soda quickly swiped the tears that were getting ready to leak down his face.

"Soda, I'm sorry. I shouldn't have said what I did. It wasn't entirely all your fault, I know that. Stuff happens right?" Darry finally found his word to say to Soda.

"Why does all this crap keep happening to us?" Pony asked. "I'm tired of all this."

"Let's just not let this kind of stuff ever happen again, how about that?" Soda said back to Darry but had also turned to direct the statement towards Sara.

"That's for sure!" Darry cracked a genuine smile towards both Sodapop and Sara. Darry grabbed Soda's shoulder to give him a half hug, while Sara was getting ready to hug Soda, Soda looked up and noticed a sad expression on Ponyboy's face.

"Come on, Pony. You too!" Soda was trying to reach for Pony.

"Group hug!" Sara yelled. Pony leaned in between Darry and Soda and for a small moment in time the four Curtis siblings held each other tight.

"Hey, who's seen enough of this place? I'm ready to go home, what do you guys think?" Soda asked pulling away first from the group hug they were all just sharing.

"ME!" Both Sara and Ponyboy said at the same time.

"Good, it sounds like a plan then." Darry said as he was also pulling away from the hug and was setting Sara down on the ground beside him.

"Excuse me, Darry?" Carl said approaching the Curtis family. "Can we assume that it's safe to call off the search now?" Carl was holding out his hand towards Darry, who gladly accepted the hand shake.

"Yes. This is my sister Sara. Thank you so much for helping us find her. You have no idea how grateful we are for your assistance today."

"Darry, I'm just glad that it all worked out and we didn't need to call in the police." Carl moved closer to Sara and bent down and looked her in the eyes. "Little Lady, you sure did have your brothers here real worried. But if there is ever a next time, find an adult and tell them you're lost. They can help you find your way back to your brothers. And here, I think you might want this." Carl stretched out his hand towards Sara.

"Mr. Bear! I was coming back for you, really, I was." Sara grabbed Mr. Bear from Carl and added, "Thank you, Sir."

"You're welcome. " Carl said ruffling the top of Sara's head. "Are you all set with everything, Darry?"

"Yes, I think we're all ready to hit the road. We have a long drive ahead of us." Darry flung an arm over Pony's shoulder and said, "Let's go home there, Champ." Pony glanced at Darry and let a small smile tug at his lips.

"I don't know about the champ part of it, but let's get outta here." Pony bent down to grab his bag, but Darry beat him to it.

"I've got it. Start heading out to the car, I'll be right there." Darry flicked his head towards the parking lot and Pony not arguing with him slowly started for the Steve's car. Darry shook hands again with Carl and his team and thanked them once again and turned towards Sodapop and Sara to get them moving towards the car as well. On the way through the parking lot, Sara had carefully placed herself in between her two older brothers, silently slipping her tiny hands into both of Darry's and Soda's. Once both boys felt her skinned up hands they pulled her hands up to take a look at them. "Sara, what happened to your hands?"

"I fell in the parking lot. That's how I dropped Mr. Bear. I hurt my knees too. But don't worry Darry, I cleaned them up myself." Sodapop scooped Sara up in his arms so that Darry could inspect her knees.

"I guess you did do a number on those knees of yours. But you did good cleaning them up. But when we get home I'm taking the peroxide to them. We don't need any infections "

"Ahh, Darry." Sara whined.

"Ahh, Darry, nothing. You heard me, Little Lady." Darry said just shaking his head at his sister. Sodapop gently placed Sara back on the ground and the three caught up pretty quickly to a slow moving Pony. "How are you feeling there Sport?" Darry asked coming up beside Pony.

"Not so hot, but I'll be ok. I just want to get home." Pony had his hands wrapped around his right side.

"I'll try to get you there as soon as possible." The Curtis members approached Steve's car and Darry opened his door while Sodapop opened the back door for Sara. But Sara hesitated by the open door.

"What is it, Sara?" Soda asked with a puzzled look on his face, not sure why Sara wasn't getting in.

"Can you um, Soda, can you let me ride up front with you and Darry?" Soda just looked over at Darry not sure what to say. Soda thought this was kinda odd that Sara would be asking this.

"What do you think, Dar?" Soda knew that Darry should be the one to give the ok.

"Well, it would probably be easier for Pony if he could lie down instead of sitting up. Pony what do you want to do? Would it feel better if you could have the whole back seat to yourself?"

"Dar, if it's going to cause a problem, I'll be fine. Honestly. One of us will probably fall asleep anyways." Pony was trying to be tough, but Darry knew that he would be better off without Sara back there.

"No, Pon. Sara, you can ride up front with us until we stop somewhere." Sara quickly shut the door and opened the front door and climbed in before Darry changed his mind.

"Thanks, Dar." Sara said waiting patiently for Darry and Soda to climb in.

"Don't thank me, thank Pony." Darry said shutting Pony's door and climbing into the driver's seat.

"Thanks Pony! Love you!" Sara yelled over her shoulder towards Pony who was trying to get comfortable in the backseat. Soda climbed in and pushed Sara to slide over. Sara slide over and it felt like they were back in Darry's truck again. But it was the feeling that Sara needed so badly. Now she felt so safe between her two brothers. Sara went to switch the radio on. "Chapel of Love" by The Dixie Cups was playing. Sara went to turn the volume up when Darry stopped her hand.

"I don't think so, Little Lady,"

"Can't blame a girl for trying." Sara remarked back.

"Since when have you picked up on these lines?" Darry asked.

"More like from who?" Soda smiled over at Sara and Darry. Sara paused for a minute, for she knew damn well from whom she has been hearing these lines from but thought twice about confessing so. So instead she just shrugged her shoulders and gave Darry her sly smile.

"I can only imagine." Darry started to pull the car out onto the road. The Curtis members were actually pretty quiet in the car. Which Darry didn't mind while trying to get out of the city limits. But once they were heading into the country Darry started looking around at everyone. Everyone seemed to be caught up in their own thoughts. Darry glanced into the rear view mirror and noticed that Pony was stretched out across the backseat and was using Sara's pillow under his right side and had her blanket rolled up with his head resting on it. His eyes were closed and by the expression on his face Darry could tell that he was in some pain. Darry was starting to feel bad for him, but then again he was still angry with him for not confessing to him that he was indeed hurt. He then turned his attention back to the road that was pretty much cleared of any other cars and nothing but squared corn fields and wheat farms on both sides of the road. Darry drove a little more before noticing that Soda too had fallen asleep and was surprised to see that Sara was still awake and was just watching the scenery roll by. Sara must have felt eyes looking at her for she turned her head slightly to look at Darry.

"What?" She asked him in that same sassy tone that he was really starting to hate.

"First of all, this sassiness that you have been using lately needs to go. I don't know what you think you're trying to pull with it, but it won't work on me. And I'm not going to tolerate it. " Sara knew that she was getting sassy these days but it was hard not to when she was around Two-Bit, Dally and Steve all the time. They always seem to being full of attitude and no one ever calls them out on it. But Sara hung her head a bit and was now looking at her dirty clothes. Darry reached over and turned down the music and Sara knew that this meant they weren't finished with the scolding yet. "Sara, you really had me scared today. What were you thinking going off on your own like that? Why didn't you just stay there and wait until Soda came for you?" Darry has been wondering this the whole time she was missing. Sara didn't know how to answer Darry for she doesn't know why she didn't stay there and wait like she should had. "Huh?" Darry prompted her to give him an answer. Still a few seconds after the prompt Sara just shrugged her shoulders. " Sara, this is serious. What happened today is serious. Why didn't you find someone and ask for help?" Darry had a million questions spinning through his head. He wanted some answers to them. After another few seconds Sara still hadn't responded to any of Darry's questions. Darry just let out a heavy sigh and took his eyes off of his sister and back onto the road. After about a minute of silence between him and his sister, he finally heard Sara's voice.

"I didn't ask for help, because no one ever helps us." Sara's voice was very flat but strong. Sara was looking down at her hands that were fidgeting in her lap. This statement from his 6 year old sister was bold and Darry was taken back a bit and needed to make sure he heard it right.

"Sara, why would you say that?"

"It's true isn't it? No one back at home ever helps us when we need it? All the people down at Social Services never help us; Mrs. Robert's doesn't help us. The fuzz don't help us, my principal and teachers at school don't help us. All the people that kids are taught to trust don't help us." Darry took his left hand off the steering wheel and ran his hand through his hair. Why on earth does his sister have to be so damn in tuned with everything that goes on around them? How he wishes that she could be living a sweet and innocent life and could just be a little naive.

"Sara, not everyone's like those people you just named. There are good people in this world, people that want to help us. Look at Carl today? He dropped everything he was doing to help to look for you. Look at Mr. Frizzle? He does good by Sodapop, and Frank and Joe down at the DX, they are good to us and Soda. And what about my boss, Mr. Day, he's a good guy. Sara, you can't think like that. There are good people who you can trust. I know to you it might seem like you can't trust certain people, because of things they have done, but it isn't like that for all people." Darry tried to get a good look at Sara in hopes that she was grasping what he was trying to tell her. Sara's head was still tilted down and she was still fidgeting with her hands. "Sara, do you understand what I'm trying to say?" Darry waited patiently for a responds from his sister. When there still wasn't anything Darry continued. "Look at Dally, now some people would say that he's a bad person. What do you think? Do you trust Dally?"

"Yeah I trust him, but I don't ever ask him for help with anything." Sara answered Darry as honestly as she could. Darry was happy that he finally heard from her, but he just wanted to scream at her out of frustration.

"Forget it, Sara. Just next time." Darry paused, "Well, there isn't going to be a next time, but if you ever do need help, find someone and ask them for help, please."

"Alright." Sara's soft, quiet voice answered back. Darry reached back over and turned the music up some. They rode in silence with nothing but the humming wheels on the concrete road and the light snoring coming from Sodapop. Sara had been thinking about something for a few miles now and thought while her two other brothers were snoozing that this would be a good time to ask. "Darry, are you mad at me for getting lost?"

"It doesn't matter if I was or not, because we found you safe and sound." He answered while lowering the visor down as they drove across the plains of Oklahoma with a windshield sunset in his eyes like a water color painted sky.

"It matters to me, Darry. I bet you're pretty mad and disappointed in me. Are you going to give me a whopping when we get home?" Darry had to let out a chuckle. He was kinda of happy to know that Sara was thinking about her choices that she actually thought he was going to punish her for this.

"Now why would you say that?"

"Because when Soda found me, he said that you were mad at him and would probably be at me too." Sara was carefully looking at her big brother preparing herself for her punishment.

"No, Sara, I think you learned your lesson from today. I don't think you need to get a whopping." When Darry said the last part he made sure that he was looking directly at her. He noticed that her whole body seemed to relax once he said there would be no whopping.

"What about Sodapop?" Sara inquired.

"What about him?" Darry asked back.

"Are you gonna give him a whopping?" Sara asked innocently. Darry could resist and burst out into a hard laughter, making Sara look up at him surprisingly. "Are you?" Sara asked again. "Because it was both our faults Darry. So if I'm not gonna get one, Soda shouldn't get a whopping neither." By this time Darry's laughter had startled Sodapop awake. Even though he was still groggy he is pretty sure he heard what Sara was saying about getting a whooping. Darry's laughter had slowed down in volume and tone and just looked straight ahead with a smile on his face.

"No Sara. I'm not going to give Sodapop a whooping. I think he might be a little to old for one of those, don't you think?" Darry smiled over at Soda who was now looking at Darry in disbelief .Once Soda knew that Darry was kidding Soda reached over Sara and punched Darry in the shoulder. "You better watch it Little Buddy, this conversation isn't over just yet between the two of us." This quickly took the smile off of Sodapop's face. Darry looked up in the rear view mirror and noticed that Ponyboy was now fully awake so he added, "Now Pony on the other hand, he might think he's to old for one, but after pulling that stunt last night with the rumble I'm not so sure what I'm going to do with him." Pony's eyes grew wide in horror, he wouldn't, he couldn't, Pony thought. But Pony knew deep down that just because there wasn't much talk about it last night or this morning that his little stunt would be forgotten all that easily, not when it involved his big brother.


	13. Chapter 13

Chapter 13

Pony was already feeling tensed from his injuries but now that Darry had brought up a possible whooping for running off to the rumble he was feeling even more tensed. Darry and Pony had locked eyes through the rear view mirror, and in a way Pony kinda thought he probably should have some kind of punishment, but he also felt that his injuries from the rumble might be able to cover for receiving another one from Darry. But as the boys continue to watch each other, Pony noticed a slight smile tug at Darry's lips. "I think Pony might be feeling enough pain so a whooping won't be needed. But once we get home and get settled we'll be talking about lost privileges, like no movies for two weeks and a few other things." Before Darry took his eyes off of the rear view mirror he saw Pony let out a big sigh.

"Dar, it's starting to get dark, can we stop for something to eat? I'm starving." Sodapop said after hearing his stomach grumble for food.

"Sure, there's a Dairy Queen right off of the highway up here in Chandler. You two hungry? Pony?" Darry was waiting for an answer from the two youngest Curtis siblings.

"You bet." Sara chimed in.

"I think I could eat a sandwich, or two." When Pony added the two, the Curtis siblings all started laughing. Darry drove off the highway and headed into the town of Chandler. There they pulled into the local Dairy Queen and a pretty little waitress came over to take their order. The place was hopping that was sure for a Saturday night. Sodapop's head just kept swiveling back and forth at all the pretty girls walking by. Since they were in the country all the girls were decent types than the girls around their neighborhood. Darry had to slap at Sodapop a few times to get him to stop his little comments that weren't meant for Sara's ears.

"Sara, why don't you get out and use the bathroom before we leave. I don't want to make any more stops. We can probably make it home by 8:00 if we get a move on." Darry was opening his door to let Sara out. She slide over the benchseat of Steve's car and got out Darry's side. Sara just stood there waiting. "Go, Sara." Darry said waving his hands towards the restroom inside the building.

"By myself?" Sara asked with a touch of hesitancy in her voice.

"We'll be right here waiting. I can see the door through the window." Darry tried to reassure her.

"No, I can't." Sara cried out to Darry.

"Jesus, Sara. Just hurry up and go. We are right here watching." Darry was losing his patience with her. Soda could tell Sara wasn't gonna budge so he spoke up.

"I've gotta take a leak, I'll bring her in, Dar." Sodapop jumped out of his door and by the time he had the door shut Sara was right by his side grabbing at his hand. He flashed her a movie star grin and took ahold of her hand and led her inside the Dairy Queen. Soda stopped in front of the ladies room, but Sara didn't let go of his hand. "Go on in. I'll be waiting right here for you." Soda released his hand from hers and gave her a slight tap on the bottom to get her moving into the restroom, but Sara just froze. "Sara, Darry is waiting for us. Now get in there and go. I'll be right here." Soda raised his voice some and had moved his hands across his chest to show her he was getting a little annoyed.

"But…" Sara started to say before Soda was all over her again.

"No but's! Get in there or else I'm sending you back out to the car and you'll have to wait until we get back home. I'll be waiting right here." Soda demanded. Sara couldn't help herself and her hands went straight to her hips and she pouted out her lower lip and yelled straight at Soda.

"You said that last time, and you weren't right there!" Sara turned away from the restroom and ran right back out to the car. As she approached she didn't even attempt to get back in the front with Darry, instead she flung open the door to the back and crawled in and slammed her door shut. This got a little reaction from both Darry and Pony.

"What's that all about?" Darry asked looking over his shoulder towards Sara who was just looking out the window.

"Nothing." Sara snorted out a reply to Darry.

"Where's Soda?" Darry asked turning back towards the front, but Sara didn't say anything. Just as Darry was going to ask her again he caught a glimpse of Soda coming around the corner. As Soda approached the car he noticed that Sara had moved to the backseat. He opened his door and couldn't resist but warn Sara that she was going to regret the decision she had just made.

"Sara, Darry isn't going to stop. We're heading straight home. You should of gone." Soda slammed his door shut.

"What?" Darry turned again to look at Sara. "You didn't use the bathroom?" Darry had a scowl look on his face. Sara just shook her head no. "Why not?" He demanded. "Didn't I tell you to go in there and use the bathroom? What has gotten into you today? I swear sometimes you drive me to drink." Darry was just staring at Sara waiting for a logical answer from her.

Sara couldn't help herself she just ended up screaming, "I don't need to go!"

"Hey, we just talked about this tone of yours. You don't get to talk like that to me. You want to try that again, before I come back there and make you regret it?" Darry's ice eyes were now blazing with anger. Sara knew that she better try it again.

In an almost inaudible voice she said, "Sorry Darry." Darry just looked at her and turned to look at Soda for some help of what just happened but Soda just shrugged his shoulders and shook his head. Darry took one more look back at Sara who was clearly avoiding his eyes and just kept looking out at the parking lot of the Dairy Queen. Darry shook his own head and turned the key for the engine to start.

"Home it is." Darry said placing the car in reverse and started backing out. As Darry was pulling back onto the highway to head towards Tulsa he noticed that Sara still hadn't said anything to anyone. What had gotten into her all of a sudden? She seemed fine while they were eating; something had to happen inside with Soda. The Oklahoma sun had completely disappeared behind the horizon and the half crescent moon was now starting to rise up into the sky. Darry had flipped on the headlights and couldn't wait to see the city limits signs for Tulsa. They were about an hour away from home.

"Do you guys think the house will still be standing when we get home?" Pony's voice traveled from the backseat.

"It better be." Darry huffed.

"I bet everyone will be there when we get home though." Soda added to the conversation. "Dar, they probably emptied out our refrigerator." Soda said with a chuckle, but everyone in the car knew that it was also probably true.

"They better have not touched the beer. I'll skin each and every one of them."

"Darry I hate to tell you this, but Two-Bit and Dally probably had any beer that you had left gone by noontime." Soda said slapping Darry on the arm.

"Do you think a beer would help numb the pain I'm feeling right now?" Pony asked the boys sitting up front.

"Don't even think about it there, little buddy." Darry shot back.

"I'm just asking if it would, it's not like I'm gonna try it or anything." Pony tried to quickly cover his tracks with Darry.

"Nah Pon. You need something strong like whiskey or bourbon to help with that kind of pain, right Dar?" Soda was now just trying to get Darry going and it work too.

"Alright you too, enough talk about this topic of conversation. Pony, when you get home you're taking a shower, two aspirin and hitting the sack. That might help, but you can forget about the other things, you hear me?" Darry stated in his stern voice. They drove the next 20 or 30 miles having small talk on how Soda was coming on his car, and how Pony was looking forward to school coming to an end and starting his new job at the bowling alley. After about 30 minutes Soda turned around to see what was keeping Sara so quiet, for he hadn't heard a word from her since Darry scolded her for yelling at him in the parking lot of the Dairy Queen.

"How long has she been asleep?" Soda asked Pony.

"I don't know, for a while now. I can't believe that she fell asleep like that. She sure does sleep in the weirdest positions. I pity the fool that ever marries her one day." Pony let out a light hearted chuckle. This had now gotten Darry's attention and he took a quick look over his right shoulder to see what Pony was talking about. There curled up in a ball, her knees pulled into her chest, her feet tucked under her bottom and her head resting on the arm rest of the door did look extremely uncomfortable. Darry would have to try to remember not to slam on the breaks for she would literally go flying into the back of their seat.

"I pity the fool too. It's going to have to be someone with a helluva lot of patience that's for sure." Darry said agreeing with Pony's statement. The boys shared a chuckle all trying to envisioning Sara married.

"I can't even picture her all grown and married. But I do wish sometimes that she was older. It would have saved us a lot of worry today. And the whole display at Dairy Queen wouldn't have happened either. If she was older she could have gone in there all by herself." Soda was now surfing through the stations trying to find something other than the Beatles or Hank Williams playing.

"Would you just leave it on one station?" Darry slapped Soda's hand away from the knob. "Jeez, Soda, you're worse than Sara sometimes, I swear."

"Well, Darry it must run in the genes or something." Darry reached over and slapped the back of Sodapop's head lightly.

"Yeah, it must. Now I know where she's getting it from, you smartass. And here I was thinking she was picking it up from Dally or Two-Bit." Darry gave Soda one of his I gotcha smirks.

"Nah, its Dally and Two-bit." Soda said jokingly.

"Seriously though, Soda, what did go on inside the Dairy Queen?" Darry's tone had now turned from kidding around to seriousness.

"I think she got scared." Soda said shortly.

"Scared of what?" Darry sounded intrigued.

"Of going to the bathroom."

"Going to the bathroom?" Pony piped in from the backseat.

"She didn't trust me that I would wait for her." Soda said with a hint of sorrow in his voice.

"Oh, Sodapop. Because of earlier?" Darry was getting a better understanding of what went down inside the DQ.

"I don't get it?" Pony questioned from the backseat.

"Darry I told her at least 5 times that I would wait for her but she just lost it. She just started screaming at me, like she did to you."

"I think her nerves are shot after the day she's experienced. It'll be interesting to see how the next few days play out with her. Hopefully with her birthday on Thursday she will focus on that instead of what happened today. But it does make me a little uneasy knowing that she reacted like that just because of the bathroom." Darry knew that this could come back to haunt them, but hopefully not.

"It could be a long week then huh?" Soda wasn't really asking Darry's opinion more than he was just stating it as a matter of fact.

Darry was so relieved when he approached the Welcome to Tulsa sign. "We're almost home, guys. Pony, try to wake your sister up." Darry asked turning off of their exit.

"Great, make me the bad guy. You'll owe me one Dar." Pony stated while reaching over to his little sister.

"Yeah, ok, right Pony. I'm pretty sure you'll owe me a lot more for a while here, don't you?" Darry was saying while watching Pony through the rear view mirror. Pony didn't have a comeback for that one but instead started to shake Sara awake. At first Sara kinda of just swatted at Pony's hand to get him to stop, but it was just enough anyways to arise Sara from her sleep. Sara rubbed at her eyes and sat up from the position that she had been sleeping in.

"Are we home?" She asked in a sleepy voice.

"Almost, Kiddo. Just about 10 minutes away. The scenery must be looking familiar though, huh?" Darry said over his shoulder towards the back.

"No, it's all dark." Sara said while all three boys laughed at her.

"Don't laugh at me!" Sara demanded.

"Someone's awfully cranky, isn't she? Pony you should have waited to wake he up until we got to the DX." Soda said rolling his window up.

"Is that what we're calling it these days, cranky?" Pony said in a hushed voice.

"Leave her alone you two." Darry warned as he was approaching their neighborhood. The Curtis all started squirming around inside the car. All of them couldn't wait to get out. As Darry approached their house he was surprised to see the truck still parked in the same place as it was when they left this morning. Just as was suspected the house was lit up and they could hear noise coming from inside of it. Darry pulled Steve's car up to the front of the gate and Sodapop was practically out of the car before Darry had it in park. Darry had opened Pony's door knowing he would need a little help getting inside the house. Pony was wincing as he was trying to pull himself up from the seat. Darry having enough of watching him suffer took ahold of his elbow and helped him get out the rest of the way. Darry helped him to the gate and then noticed that Sara was not following behind them. "Go on in and get in the shower Pony. I'll be right in." Darry turned back to the car and stuck his head in through Pony's door. "Sara, come on. You need to gather your stuff up and bring it in." Darry started gathering up all their stuff and Pony's bag. Sara was slowly moving but Darry was relieved to see that he didn't need to keep prompting her to get out. Sara climbed across the backseat with her bag, blanket, pillow and Mr. Bear. Darry was standing by the door getting ready to shut it as she slowly got out. "That's a girl." He praised her for getting all her stuff. Darry shut the door and followed behind Sara up the path and up the stairs to the door. As Sara was climbing the stairs her blanket got caught under her foot and she stumbled forward. "I gotcha." Darry said while juggling some of the bags in his hands but managing to catch Sara before she did a face plant onto the front porch.

"Thanks." Sara's voice was barely heard from all the noise coming from inside of the Curtis'. When Darry opened the screen door the scene was just as he had imagined it would be. Dally and Steve where sprawled out on their couch with at least a half of dozen beer bottles lining the coffee table. Two- Bit was occupying Darry's chair with a few beer bottles down on the floor at his feet, while Johnny was leaning up against the wall in front of the windows. Sodapop was sitting on the arm of the couch next to Steve already filling them in on the day's events.

"Hey Dar, Hey Little Curtis!" Two-Bit shouted at them as they walked in.

"What the hell guys? Didn't I warn you about this house? You've best be cleaning this place up." Darry was noticing the playing cards that were strewn all over the floor and empty Twinkie wrappers and potato chip bags thrown onto all of the end tables.

"Well hello to you too, Darry. Glad to see that you missed us too." Dally remarked from the couch.

"You heard me, clean this place up. We've had a helluva day. I'm not about to be your maid." Darry pushed pass Sara to go set Pony's bag down in the boys room.

"Little Curtis, how was your first trip to the big city?" Dally called over to Sara who was trying to balance all of her belongings.

"Awful! I never want to go back to that city again!" Sara was slowly losing grip on her things so she dropped he bag by the door and headed with her blanket, pillow and Mr. Bear towards her room.

"Well, o.k. then." Dally turned back to the conversation that Soda was having with Steve.

"What? Broken ribs? What an idiot. You wasted the whole day when his ass should've been home. What a moron." Steve of course was saying exactly what he was thinking.

"Who has broken ribs?" Dally asked with a surprise look on his face.

"Ponyboy, that's who. " Steve snorted.

"Stupid kid." Dally said reaching for his half empty beer off the coffee table.

"So did he end up running?" Johnny asked getting up from the floor and starting to pick up the trash around the living room.

"Yeah, he ran one race and came in 4th overall. But it was the second race that just did him in. The trainer pulled him from competition." Soda tried to explain to the boys.

"Then why the hell are you guys just now getting back?" Dally managed to get out before letting out a loud burp.

"Well, we had a little mishap." Soda leaned forward to make sure that Sara was out of ear shot.

"Nothing happened to Old Bessie did there?" Steve started to get up to check out the window and make sure his car was in one piece still.

"Gosh, I kinda of wished it was Old Bessie, but no she's fine, it's was the other girl." Soda was trying to be careful just in case Sara was lingering around somewhere.

"What other girl?" Two-Bit asked joining Johnny on the clean-up duty.

"Sara, you doofus." Soda had now slipped onto the couch from where Steve had just gotten up from.

"What happened with Sara?" Johnny had stopped to ask Soda.

"Is that why she said she never wants to go back to the big city?" Two-Bit asked while catching an empty bottle that Dally was now tossing him.

"I guess getting lost could constitute for an awful time." Soda said sliding over towards Dally so Steve could sit back down.

"What?" Dally hollered out. "She got lost? How the hell did that happen?"

"Yeah, she was using the ladies room and she and I missed each other and she got lost. We searched for almost three hours before I found her in the parking lot. She had gone back to the car." Soda explained to the group of boys that all had their eyes on him.

"Holy shit, man. She musta of been scared off her ass." Dally said with some seriousness to his tone.

"Yeah, I think she was, and still might be." Soda said letting out a deep breath before taking a swig for the beer that Steve had just handed him.


End file.
